Effect of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Intervention on Distress Problems and Self-Regulation in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is one of the most prevalent and costly chronic diseases that imposes many limitations on the activities of the patient. Rejection of disease, sensitivity to glycemic fluctuations and physical symptoms, nutrition restrictions, and the amount of activity are stimulating factors of psychological problems in patients with diabetes. Low levels of emotional health lead the patient to other undesired results, such as distress, self-regulation problems, adverse metabolic control, and increased rate of mortality. On the other hand, stress reduction treatment based on mindfulness is a technique, which is used in mind-body medicine in order to reduce mental and physical disorders in patients with chronic diseases. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of stress reduction treatment based on mindfulness on distress problems and self-regulation in patients with type 2 diabetes.
This paper was an experimental study based on control and treatment groups with pre-test and post-test. Overall, 34 male and female patients with type 2 diabetes and at least high school education, from Molasadra clinic of Isfahan, were selected and placed randomly in two groups of control and treatment (17 patients in the treatment group and 17 patients in the control group). Pre-test stage was done for both groups by Distress Tolerance (DTS) and Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ). The treatment group received 8 sessions of 2 hours (once a week) of mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention. Afterwards, the post-test was done for both groups. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20 and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).
The findings showed that MBSR had an effect on distress problems and self-regulation of patients with type 2 diabetes with effect size of 0.83% and 0.75%, respectively.
On the basis of results, it could be said that mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention could have a positive impact on distress problems and self-regulation of patients.