The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Positive and Negative Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies in the Mothers of Epileptic Children

Epilepsy is among the most prevalent brain disorders, with abnormal discharge creating sensory disturbances, the loss of consciousness, impaired physical function, seizures, or a combination of these. Having such chronic diseases in childhood and adolescence is a crisis for family members, especially mothers. Most maternal problems include a negative attitude towards themselves, guilt, concerns about the nature and cause of strokes and their persistence, anxiety about the child's uncertain future education and occupation, and fear of having another child with epilepsy, which affects their mental health. The Mindfulness–Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) method is a comprehensive intervention that can effectively improve coping skills for depressive and psychological symptoms in vulnerable groups. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of the MBSR program on positive and negative Emotion Regulation Strategies (ERSs) in the mothers of epileptic children.

This was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population was all mothers with epileptic children affiliated with the Masih Epilepsy Association in Isfahan City, Iran, until 2018. Using the convenience sampling method, 30 eligible mothers with a higher score in the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski et al., 2001) were selected. They were randomly divided into the experimental and control groups (n=15/group). The study's inclusion criteria were the age of mothers to range between 20 and 50 years; literacy; having at least one child with epilepsy aged between 7 and 16 years; mothers to live with their spouses during treatment, and providing consent to participate in the research. The exclusion criteria included severe physical illnesses or disabilities, absence from more than two training sessions, acute psychiatric disorders (depression, certain biopsychological illnesses, taking any hormonal & psychiatric medication prescribed by a psychiatrist), and unwillingness to continue participating. The research lasted for two months. The experimental group was trained in eight 90–minute MBSR program sessions; however, the control group received no intervention. The study subjects completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski et al., 2001) in two stages. The research data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (central indicators & dispersion, e.g., mean & standard deviation) and inferential statistics, including Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS at the significance level of 0.05.

The present study results indicated that after eliminating the effects of pretest scores, the difference between the experimental group and the control group in the mean posttest scores respecting the components of positive ERSs, including re–paying attention to planning (p<0.001), positive re–evaluation (p<0.001), adopting a point of view (p=0.004), and the total score of the positive ERSs (p<0.001) were significant. The effect size indicated that 36% of the differences in scores of re–paying attention to planning scores, 35% of the differences positive re–evaluation scores, 31% of the differences in adopting a point of views scores, and 42% of the differences in positive ERSs in posttest between the two groups were due to the intervention. Furthermore, after eliminating the effects of pretest scores, the difference between the experimental and control groups in the mean posttest scores of negative ERSs was significant only in the subscales of others' blaming strategy (p=0.040). The effect size indicated that 16% of the differences in the scores of others' blaming strategy in the post–test between the two groups were due to training intervention.

Based on the present study findings, the MBSR program effectively regulated emotions among the mothers of epileptic children.