Effect of Meaning-Centered Pain Coping Skills Training Vs. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on Pain Self-Efficacy and Life Expectancy in Women with Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer mortality in women worldwide. For patients with breast cancer, pain is a common and debilitating symptom that can negatively impact physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. In this randomized controlled trial, we aim to determine the effect of meaning-centered pain coping skills training (MCPC), and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), on pain self-efficacy and life expectancy in women with breast cancer.

We enrolled 45 adults females with stage III breast cancer referred to the Bazarganan Hospital and Roshana Oncology clinic in Tehran, were randomly assigned to one of the three MCPC (n = 15), MBSR (n = 15) or control (n = 15) groups. MCPC is a 6-session and MBSR is a systematic educational program during an 8-week period. The control group had no additional contact. Measures assessing the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire and Snyder Adult Hope Scale were administered at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up.

Both the MCPC and MBSR groups achieved significant improvement in pain self-efficacy  and life expectancy with statistically significant differences between groups. However, no significant difference was reported between the effectiveness of the interventions used in the present study on self-efficacy in breast cancer patients. Thus, the intervention of MCPC showed a greater effect on increasing life expectancy in breast cancer patients (P<0.001).

Our findings, which found that the MCPC and MBSR group had improved in at both post-intervention and follow-up compared to the control group. These interventions may provide an important avenue for alleviating suffering in patients facing pain from breast cancer.