Increased ability to retain present-moment focus and to act with awareness tied to symptom improvement
FRIDAY, April 17, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Mindfulness-based stress reduction training is associated with robust improvements in gastrointestinal symptoms for patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to a study published online April 7 in Neurogastroenterology & Motility.
Bruce D. Naliboff, Ph.D., from the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues examined the association between clinical outcomes and mindfulness among 53 women and 15 men with IBS participating in an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction class.
The researchers found that the gastrointestinal symptom responder rate was 71 percent. There was a significant pretreatment to posttreatment change for three of the five scales on the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. Change in the “Act with Awareness” facet of mindfulness was the strongest predictor of improvement in gastrointestinal symptoms and quality of life.
“Although significant increases in three of the five measured facets of mindfulness were found, regression analyses suggest that increases in the ability to retain present moment focus and act with awareness may be particularly important for improving outcomes in individuals with IBS,” the authors write.
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