Comparing the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training and Powell's Cognitive Rehabilitation on Reducing the Psychological Symptoms of Stroke Patients

Cerebral stroke is one of the most common and debilitating neurological diseases, and its defects are mainly in three parts: physical, cognitive, and emotional-behavioral. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to interventions that target cognitive and mood problems at the same time. The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the effectiveness of the stress reduction training intervention based on mindfulness and Powell's cognitive rehabilitation on the psychological symptoms of ischemic stroke patients.

This was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and a follow-up period. Based on the entry criteria, 36 ischemic stroke patients were randomly assigned to three groups of 12 people. The data collection tools were demographic profile questionnaires and (DASS21). The collected data were analyzed with SPSS software (Version. 22) and Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical tests, paired t-test, Tukey and repeated variance analysis at the significance level (P<0.05).

Analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that patients receiving stress reduction treatment based on mindfulness and Powell's cognitive rehabilitation reported lower severity of depression, but no significant difference was observed between the two interventions based on the averages. Regarding anxiety, only the stress reduction intervention based on mindfulness was effective, and none of the interventions showed significant effectiveness regarding stress.

According to the results, stress reduction interventions based on mindfulness and cognitive rehabilitation can be used as a complementary treatment along with other treatments in order to improve the cognitive and psychological problems of patients.