title: Impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on sleep, mood, stress and fatigue symptoms in cancer outpatients.
abstract: Sleep disturbance is a very common problem for cancer patients that has largely not been addressed in the clinical intervention literature. Mindfulness meditation has demonstrated clinical benefits for a variety of patient populations in other areas of functioning. This study examined the effects of an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program on the sleep quality of a heterogeneous sample of 63 cancer patients. Overall sleep disturbance was significantly reduced (p < .001) and participants reported that their sleep quality had improved (p .001). There was also a significant reduction in stress (p < .001), mood disturbance (p = .001), and fatigue (p < .001). The associations among these changes and implications for improving quality of life of cancer patients are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. l.carlson@ucalgary.edu
authors.forename: Linda E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: Sheila N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Garland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019122:Meditation; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012890:Sleep; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D016896:Treatment Outcome