The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Therapy on Resilience and Self-Discrepancy among Female Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), due to its chronic and debilitating nature, can lead to undesirable effects which can reduce quality of life, decrease self-esteem and increase the mental stress of a person, especially among women. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy on resilience and self-discrepancy among women with SLE in Tehran.

This study was of experimental design with pre-test, post-test and control group. The study was conducted from June to September 2018. The statistical population included all women with SLE in Tehran, among whom 60 women were selected by available sampling method and were randomly categorized into two groups of experimental and control, each containing 30 participants. Data were collected via Conner-Davidson Resilience questionnaire and Self-Discrepancy questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using multivariate covariance analysis and one-way covariance analysis via SPSS software version 20.

The mean (SD) age of the experimental group was 33.5 (6.9) and control group 34.7 (5.9). The mean (SD) score of resiliency in the experimental group in the pre-test was 42.5 (5.3), which increased to 50.4 (8.5) in post-test (P<0.01), but the mean (SD) score of the control group was 28 (9.2) in the pre-test and varied to 30.2 (8.7) in the post-test, which was not statistically significant. The mean (SD) score of self-discrepancy in the experimental group was 44.8 (4.2) in the pretest, which decreased to 32.4 (5.3) in the post test (P<0.01), but the mean (SD) of the control group in the pre-test was 48.2 (3.6), which varied to 48 (3.2) in the post-test and was not statistically significant.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy was effective in increasing the resilience and reducing the self-discrepancy of patients with SLE