Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Hope and Pain Beliefs of Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain

Background: Patients with Low Back Pain (LBP) suffer from physical and psychological disability. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) may be an effective treatment option for patients with chronic LBP, but its efficacy on hope and pain belief is uncertain. Objectives: To determine whether MBCT could increase hope and be effective in pain beliefs in patients with LBP. Materials & Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 30 patients with chronic LBP were selected by convenient sampling method from Neurology and Neurosurgery Clinics affiliated to Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Gilan Province, Iran. Subjects were divided into experimental (MBCT) and control groups (n=15 each) by random sampling method. The experimental group as an intervention received 90-minute weekly MBCT sessions for eight weeks. Adult dispositional hope scale (Snyder hope scale) and pain beliefs and perceptions inventory were administrated to both groups as pretest-posttest. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance using SPSS 20. Results: Mean age of the patients was 38.41 years. All of the subject were women with high school education. MBCT significantly increased the hope of patients with chronic LBP (P<0.001), however, it was ineffective in pain beliefs. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrates that MBCT can be an effective treatment for increasing the hope of patients with chronic LBP. MBCT may be developed for alleviating LBP.