THE IMPACT OF A BRIEF MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION PROGRAM ON PERCEIVED QUALITY OF LIFE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if a five-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, that incorporated mindfulness meditation and yoga, positively influenced perceived quality of life as defined and described by the World Health Organization (WHO). A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group, 2 × 2 repeated measures (pre/post) factorial design was used to examine an employee wellness program at a southwestern university. A total of 51 university employees participated in the study: 21 employees who were enrolled in the MBSR program (intervention group) and 30 randomly selected employees (comparison group). Fifty-two questions from the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life (QOL) questionnaire— the WHOQOL-100—tested the research hypotheses. The findings of this study indicate that the MBSR program has a positive influence on perceived quality of life specific to four domains measured in this study, i.e., physical, psychological, social, and spiritual. The biomedical model definition of health is currently the most widely used in medical research and simply conceptualizes health as the absence of disease or infirmity. However, the World Health Organization’s (World Health Organization, 2001a) most recent definition of health is based on a biopsychosocial model of medicine that considers the absence of disease or infirmity as well as a person’s physical, mental, and social well-being. The WHO’s model has gained increased popularity over the past 20 years (Larson, 1999). As a component of this