The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction on self-efficacy, percived stress and depressive symptoms in female-headed households in Ilam

Women heads of households, due to their important role in the home, are exposed to various physical and mental illnesses, including stress and depression. Therefore, education in this field and increasing women's self-efficacy can improve the quality of life and health status of these people. This study was designed and conducted to investigate the effect of mindfulness based stress reduction(MBSR)on self-efficacy, reducing stress and depressive symptoms in female-headed households in Ilam.

The present study is a quasi-experimental study. Among women heads of households Sponsored by Imam Khomeini Relief Committee in Ilam, 30 people with high rates of depression and stress were randomly selected and .They were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (15 people eachgroup ). Eight 90-minute sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction program were taught. Data collection tools were Depression, Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy quetioners, which were completed by participants in three stages of pre-test, immediately after the intervention and two months after the intervention. The collected data were evaluated using SPSS software. Significance level was considered 0.05

After mindfulness training, significant changes in depression (p <0.001), perceived stress (p= 0.010), and self-efficacy (p <0.001) were observed in the experimental group. Also, two months after the educational interventions, the changes caused by the training were stable and the mean scores of depression (11.07 ± 1.09), perceived stress (19.80 ± 7.32) and self-efficacy (59.73 ± 6.40) There was a significant difference in pre-test in the experimental group (p <0.05)

The results of this study showed that MBSR education has a significant effect on increasing self-efficacy, reducing depressive symptoms and perceived stress.