The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Anxiety, Cognitive Flexibility and Resilience of Divorced Mothers

One of the important and negative effects of divorce is its psychological effects on divorced women and mothers. It is necessary to pay attention to the mental health of these people. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction, anxiety, cognitive flexibility and resilience in divorced women and mothers.

The method of the present study was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population of the present study included all divorced mothers who live in Mashhad, 27 of whom were selected by available sampling and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The protocol MBSR were applied in 8 sessions which lasts 120-minute and performed for the experimental group only and the control group did not receive any treatment. The data which collected through the Spielberger state-trait anxiety inventory, the cognitive flexibility inventory, and the Connor and Davidson resilience Questionnaire, were assessed by Spss25 and using univariate analysis of covariance.

The results showed that mindfulness-based stress reduction leading to reduced manifest anxiety and on the other hand, it improved cognitive flexibility and resiliency. But it was not effective in reducing latent anxiety people.

Therefore, according to the results of the study, it can be stated that attention to psychological problems of divorced women is necessary and mindfulness-based stress reduction can be used as an effective intervention in improving the problems of divorced women and mothers.