The effect of compassionate mind group training in improvement of quality of life in patients with Ulcerative Colitis (one year follow-up)

Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of compassionate mind training for the quality of life in patients with chronic diseases. However, it remains to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach on patients with Ulcerative Colitis (UC). This study set out to assess the efficacy of compassionate mind training on improving patients' quality of life with Ulcerative Colitis.

This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest-follow-up design with a control group and a one-year follow-up. The statistical population included UC patients who visited the Gastrointestinal Clinic at Bahonar Hospital in Fall 2018 and Winter 2019. 34 UC patients were selected using purposeful sampling and were randomly assigned to two equal-size control and experimental groups. The experimental group attended twelve 180-mins sessions of compassionate mind training and the Control group had a 180-min workshop on UC with no psychological interventions. Patients were assessed using inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire-short form in 3 stages: pre-test, post-test and 1-year follow-up. Data were analyzed by single factor covariance analysis and dependent t-test.

Results showed compassionate mind training was significantly effective in improving the quality of life in UC patients, both at the end of the interventions (P < 0.01) and at the end of the 1-year follow-up (P < 0.01).

Compassionate mind training can be used as an effective psychological intervention and a complementary therapy to improve the quality of life in UC patients in addition to medical treatments.