The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Self-Efficacy and Life Satisfaction of Disabled Veterans

Because of their exposure to stressful war events, disabled veterans face many physical and psychological problems which can seriously affect their self-efficacy and life satisfaction. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on the self-efficacy and life satisfaction of disabled veterans. Thirty disabled veterans with %70 disability from Rasht, Iran, who were suffering from low self-efficacy and life satisfaction, participated in this quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest and control group in 2016. The subjects were selected using the purposive sampling method and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups each with 15 individuals. Eight 90-minute sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction training was offered to the experimental group. The required data were collected using the Self-Efficacy Scale (Sherer et al., 1982) and the Satisfaction with Life Questionnaire (Diener et al., 1985). The multivariate covariance analysis was employed to analyze the data. The findings indicated that the research hypothesis as to the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction on the self-efficacy and life satisfaction of the disabled veterans were proven and the disabled veterans in the experimental group had significantly higher self-efficacy and life satisfaction at the posttest stage in comparison with the control group (p<0.01). It can be concluded that mindfulness-based stress reduction training has a significant effect on the self-efficacy and life satisfaction of disabled veterans and improves the quality of their self-efficacy and life satisfaction.