M - B S R (MBSR) P S Q L: A O, U S B H S: Research Letter

RESEARCH LETTER
MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION (MBSR) IN PERCEIVED STRESS AND

QUALITY OF LIFE: AN OPEN, UNCONTROLLED STUDY IN A BRAZILIAN
HEALTHY SAMPLE
Marcelo Marcos Piva Demarzo, PhD, MD,1# Solange Andreoni, PhD,1 Nadia Sanches, MD,2 Sergio Perez, PhD,2
Sandra Fortes, PhD, MD,3 and Javier Garcia-Campayo, PhD, MD,4
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) are effective therapies were students at a major public university who completed the
for a variety of psychological problems, especially for improv- evaluated scales prior to and at the end of the program
ing anxiety, mood disorders, and other stress-related condi- (protocol period from September through December 2009).
tions, and so may have potential application in and impact All scores were transformed to a 100-point scale (ranging
on national health systems on a cost-effective basis.1–6 In from 0 to 100 points, with 100 meaning the lowest PS and
Brazil, meditative practices, along with many other comple- highest QoL). Paired t-tests were used to compare the final
mentary and integrative therapies, have been encouraged and and baseline mean scores of those scales. Pearson correlations
supported by the Ministry of Health, which established the were also calculated between the changes from baseline. The
National Policy on Integrative and Complementary Practices Ethical Committee of the Federal University of São Carlos
(PNPIC) inside the Brazilian National Health System in (UFSCar) approved the study protocol.
2006.7 According to PNPIC, these actions should ideally be The participants were all single and with ages ranging
carried out by Primary Care (PC) teams, whose practitioners, between 18 and 27 years [mean ¼ 20.7, standard deviation
including community health trainers, could be trained to (SD) ¼ 2.5], 78.3% were female (n ¼ 18), 77% were self-rated
implement MBI with the potential to impact on more than as white, and 13% as black. All participants completed at least
100 million people. Despite this fact and the existing six weeks of the program (17.4%, 52.1%, and 30.5% attended
literature on meditation and health,7–9 there is still a lack of six, seven, and eight weeks, respectively). Improvements from
studies on MBI in the Brazilian population. Culture-specific baseline in PS (P ¼ .001) and in all dimensions of
studies on MBI are in great need, and so our aim was to WHOQOL-BREF (P r .003) were observed at the end of
explore the impact of an MBI program on perceived stress the intervention program. Stronger correlations were found
(PS) and quality of life (QoL) in a healthy sample in Brazil. between final changes from baseline in PS and QoL (overall
A one-group pre-/post-test design was used to measure the and psychological domains of WHOQOL-BREF) and
impact of the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) between changes in physical and psychological or environ-
program (eight-week; 2.5 h/wk; retreat-day) using the Brazil- ment domains of WHOQOL-BREF. Tables 1 and 2 summa-
ian validated version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)10 and rize the main results.
the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire.11 The eligibility criteria We observed high levels of adherence to the MBSR
included the following: (1) 18 years of age or older; (2) lack of program and demonstrated promising pre–post session inter-
any clinical problems or conditions; and (3) able to vention effects on PS and QoL in a Brazilian healthy sample.
understand, read, and write in Portuguese. Subjects (n ¼ 23) These preliminary results are similar to previous studies and
reviews2,5,6,12,13 and support the feasibility of implementing
MBI in Brazil. As expected, changes in PS are correlated but
probably do not explain all changes in the QoL domains and
1 Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil vice-versa, and others variables, such as those related to
2 Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil improvements in anxiety and mood symptoms, self-aware-
3 Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ness, -regulation, and -transcendence, may be involved.2,5,6,14
4 Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain It is interesting to notice this study was carried out during
This work was supported by the Federal University of São Carlos
final examinations period, a well-known source of distress,15
(UFSCar) and the Brazilian National Council for Research and
which may make results more significant. On the other hand,
Technology Development (CNPq), Brazil. The content is solely the
responsibility of the authors. We especially appreciate the students results should be interpreted with caution because of the lack
who generously offered their time to participate in this research. of a control group and the small sample size.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study
# Correspondence to: Mente Aberta, Brazilian Center for Mindfulness
and Health Promotion (www.mindfulnessbrasil.com), Department of conducted in Brazil exploring MBSR effects on a healthy
Preventive Medicine, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), sample of individuals, and demonstrating its potential health
Rua Borges Lagoa, 1341, São Paulo 04038-034, Brazil promotion benefits with overall improvement in PS and QoL.
e-mail: demarzo@unifesp.br Mindfulness-based interventions may be suitable for the
118 & 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. EXPLORE March/April 2014, Vol. 10, No. 2
ISSN 1550-8307/$36.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2013.12.005

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RESEARCH LETTER

MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION (MBSR) IN PERCEIVED STRESS AND

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