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Kang and Oh: Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Program on Perceived Stress, Ways of Coping, and Stress Response in Breast Cancer Patients
Original Article
Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing

Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing 2012; 42(2): 161-170.

Published online: 30 April 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4040/jkan.2012.42.2.161

Effects of Mindfulness Meditation Program on Perceived Stress, Ways of Coping, and Stress Response in Breast Cancer Patients

Gwangsoon Kang1, Sangeun Oh2

1Full-time Instructor, Department of Nursing, Gwangju University, Gwangju, Korea.

2Professor, College of Nursing, CRINS, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea.

Address reprint requests to: Oh, Sangeun. College of Nursing, Chonnam National University, 5 Hak 1-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-746, Korea. Tel: +82-62-220-4354, FAX: +82-62-227-4009, seoh@jnu.ac.kr

Received 8 November 2010       Accepted 26 April 2012

© 2012 Korean Society of Nursing Science

Abstract

Purpose

Purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the Mindfulness Meditation program on perceived stress, ways of coping, salivary cortisol level, and psychological stress response in patients with breast cancer.

Methods

This was a quasi-experimental study with a non-equivalent control group pre-post test design. Participants in this study were 50 patients who had completed breast cancer treatment (experimental group, 25, control group, 25). The experimental group received the Mindfulness Meditation program for 3 hours/session/ week for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed using χ2-test and t-test for subject homogeneity verification, and ANCOVA to examine the hypotheses.

Results

The experimental group had significantly lower scores for perceived stress, emotional focused coping, salivary cortisol level, and psychological stress response compared to the control group. However, no significant differences were found between two groups for the scores on problem focused stress coping.

Conclusion

According to the results, the Mindfulness Meditation program was useful for decreasing perceived stress, emotional focused coping, salivary cortisol level, and psychological stress response. Therefore, this program is an effective nursing intervention to decrease stress in patients with breast cancer.

Keywords: Meditation, Breast Cancer, Stress

Figures and Tables

Figure 1
Conceptual framework of this study.
jkan-42-161-g001
Table 1
Mindfulness Meditation Program
jkan-42-161-i001
Table 2
Homogeneity for Characteristics between Experimental and Control Groups
jkan-42-161-i002

Exp.=Experimental group; Cont.=Control group.

*Except not response.

Table 3
Homogeneity Test of Dependent Variables between Experimental and Control Groups
jkan-42-161-i003

Exp.=Experimental group; Cont.=Control group.

Table 4
Comparison of Subcategories in Perceived stress, Ways of Coping, and Stress Response between Experimental and Control Groups
jkan-42-161-i004

Exp.=Experimental group; Cont.=Control group.

*F score is Analysis of Covariance with pretest scores as covariates.

Notes

This study was conducted by research funds from Gwangju University.

This article is based on a part of the first author's doctoral dissertation from Chonnam National University.

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