title: Changes and interactions of flourishing, mindfulness, sense of coherence, and quality of life in patients of a mind-body medicine outpatient clinic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stress-related, behavioral or chronic diseases require a holistic therapeutic approach. Mind-body medicine (MBM) uses the interaction between mind, body, behavior, and the environment to affect physical and psychological health and function. This integrative strategy can be applied in clinical settings, e.g., in an outpatient clinic, to improve well-being as well as clinical outcomes. We hypothesized an improvement of flourishing, mindfulness, sense of coherence, and quality of life through a comprehensive MBM program. In addition, we hypothesized correlations between the measures themselves as well as between the measures influenced by the intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a longitudinal cohort study in an outpatient clinic setting (n = 48 patients, with various diagnoses). A questionnaire battery, consisting of SF-12, Flourishing Scale (FS, FS-D), Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI), and Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC9), was used and applied in a pre-to-post format over a period of 18 weeks. The intervention was a 12-week MBM group program, with 1 session of 7 h per week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pre-post comparison of the measures showed significant improvements in psychological health, flourishing, mindfulness, and coherence. We were able to verify correlations between the measures themselves, apart from physical health. Coherence correlated with psychological health, influenced by the intervention. Further analyses showed associations between coherence, mindfulness, and flourishing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MBM program improved measures of psychological health and decreased the level of suffering from chronic disease. MBM led to an improvement of disease coping and appraisal of individual ailments, thereby enhancing quality of life. Personal flourishing, coherence, and mindfulness seem to interact with each other.
authors: Division of Integrative Health Promotion, Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Coburg, Germany.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Gimpel
authors: Christel
authors: C
authors: von Scheidt
authors: Gerald
authors: G
authors: Jose
authors: Ulrike
authors: U
authors: Sonntag
authors: George B
authors: GB
authors: Stefano
authors: Andreas
authors: A
authors: Michalsen
authors: Tobias
authors: T
authors: Esch
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026441:Mind-Body Therapies / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D064866:Mindfulness; D011788:Quality of Life; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome