Background: Cancer patients suffer from higher rates of psycho-social challenges. In the Indian context, their stress and psycho-social morbidities are often inadequately addressed. The researchers introduced a brief structured mindfulness group (Group M) therapy for them in a community cancer-care setting. The primary objective was to see an improvement in mental stress. Additionally, changes in anxiety, depression, pain intensity, sleep quality, coping with cancer, quality of life (QOL) and mindfulness characteristics were noted.
Methods: In this clinical trial, 100 cancer patients diagnosed with cancer (stage III/IV) were screened and then randomised to two groups to attend brief face-to-face ‘mindfulness (Group M)’ or ‘usual care (Group U)’ (not including mindfulness) sessions in a community cancer-care center in West Bengal, India, from May 2023 to April 2024. The outcome variables were noted pre-program, post-program and at 2 months follow-up. The statistical analysis was done using statistical software SPSS statistics for Windows 7® version 18.0.0. T-test was used for age, chi-square test for sex, cancer type, stage, treatment and the repeated-measures ANOVA test for other variables.
Results: The pre-session outcome variables among ‘Group M’ and ‘Group U’ were comparable. In ‘Group M,’ the post-session perceived stress scores (p value <0.001: treatment effect size = 0.093), anxiety, depression, sleep quality and emotional component of QOL improved significantly and this improvement was sustained in 2-months follow-up. While the effect on pain intensity, cancer coping and other aspects of QOL and mindfulness characteristics was modest or less significant.
Conclusion: In Indian cancer patients, a brief, structured mindfulness-based intervention demonstrated notable improvements in stress, anxiety, depression, sleep quality and emotional component of QOL. Further studies will be needed to substantiate these results and integration of mindfulness into community oncology-care services of the country.
Trial registration: Clinical Trial Registry- India CTRI/2023/04/051910.
