title: Effect of Group Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction Program and Conscious Yoga on Lifestyle, Coping Strategies, and Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressures in Patients with Hypertension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Healthy lifestyle and ineffective coping strategies are deemed significant variables among patients with hypertension. This study attempted to determine the status of these variables following intervention via the mindfulness-based stress-reduction program (MBSRP) in patients with hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a randomized clinical trial. The study sample, consisting of 30 patients referring to the Hypertension Clinic of Imam Hossein Hospital in 2013, was assigned either to the intervention (recipient of the MBSRP and conscious yoga) or to the control group (recipient of yoga training). The intervention group had 8 training sessions over 8 weeks. Lifestyle and coping strategies as well as blood pressure were measured in the intervention group before intervention and then immediately thereafter and at 2 months' follow-up and were compared to those in the control group at the same time points.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the patients in the intervention (40% women) and control (53% women) groups was 43.66 ± 5.14 and 43.13 ± 5.04 years, respectively. The results showed that the mean scores of lifestyle (p value < 0.05), emotion-focused coping strategies (p value < 0.001), problem-focused coping strategies (p value < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (p value < 0.001), and systolic blood pressure (p value < 0.001) were significantly different between the intervention and control groups after the intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Applying an intervention based on the MBSRP may further improve the lifestyle and coping strategies of patients with hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nejati
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zahiroddin
authors.affiliation: Azad University of Sciences and Research, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Gita
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Afrookhteh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.
authors.forename: Soheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rahmani
authors.affiliation: Alborz Azad University of Sciences and Research, Karaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahrzad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hoveida
keywords: Hypertension; Intervention studies; Life style; Mindfulness; Yoga