Association of participation in a mindfulness programme with bowel symptoms, gastrointestinal symptom‐specific anxiety and quality of life
Abstract
Background Stress perception and GI-specific anxiety play key roles in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a widely available stress reduction course, which has not been evaluated for IBS. Aim To determine whether participation in MBSR is associated with improvement in bowel symptoms, GI-specific anxiety, and IBS-Quality of Life. Methods This is a prospective study of 93 participants in MBSR. We applied measures of Rome III IBS status, bowel symptoms (IBS-Severity Scoring System, IBS-SSS), IBS-Quality of Life (IBS-QOL), GI-specific anxiety (Visceral Sensitivity Index, VSI), mindfulness (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-FFMQ), and functional status (SF-8) at baseline and 2 and 6 months after enrolment. Results At 2 months, participation in MBSR was associated with small nonsignificant changes in IBS-SSS, IBS-QOL and VSI: d = -0.25, d = 0.08, d = -0.16, respectively. At 6 months, there was no significant change in IBS-SSS (d = -0.36); whereas for IBS-QOL and VSI there were significant improvements (IBS-QOL: d = 0.33, P = 0.044; VSI: d = -0.40, P = 0.014). For patients meeting Rome III IBS criteria (n = 43), changes in IBS-SSS, IBS-QOL and VSI were not statistically significant, but there was a significant correlation between the change in VSI and the change in FFMQ across the three time periods (r = 0.33). Conclusions Participation in MBSR is associated with improvement IBS-related quality of life and GI-specific anxiety. Randomised…
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MBIs showed a large effect on depression (d = 0.62) in MUS.
“MBIs showed large effects on: symptom severity (d = 0.82), pain intensity (d = 0.79), depression (d = 0.62), and anxiety (d = 0.67).”
From What works in mindfulness interventions for medically unexplained symptoms? A systematic review (2020) · cites this paper as Kearney et al., 2011
Mindfulness-based stress reduction for IBS has been evaluated in two recent studies with mixed results.
“Mindfulness-based stress reduction for IBS has been evaluated in two recent studies [35,36] with mixed results.”
In one uncontrolled study of mindfulness-based treatment for IBS, a significant reduction in percentage of participants meeting Rome IBS criteria at 6-month follow-up was observed, as well as correlations between mindfulness skills and GI-specific anxiety.
“In one uncontrolled study of mindfulness-based treatment for IBS, a significant reduction in the percentage of participants meeting Rome IBS criteria at 6-month follow-up was observed, as well as correlations between mindfulness skills and GI-specific anxiety.34”
From Preliminary investigation of the associations between psychological flexibility, symptoms and daily functioning in people with chronic abdominal pain (2021) · cites this paper as [34]
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- Authors
- Kearney, D. J., McDermott, K., Martinez, M., & Simpson, T. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- VA Puget Sound Health Care System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kearney, D. J.
- Venue
- Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-06-09
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 363-373
- ISSN
- 0269-2813 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2036
- OpenAlex
- W1581780507
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 6.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Keywords
- irritable bowel syndrome, mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness, visceral sensitivity, bowel symptoms, quality of life, stress reduction, Rome III criteria, IBS-QOL
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Veterans, Mind-Body Therapies, Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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