Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction training on rumination in patients with breast cancer

Breast cancer has been a serious public health dilemma for women worldwide, with not only physical and social impairments but also psychological stress responses such as rumination. Rumination is a constant preoccupation with thoughts. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction training in lowering rumination among women diagnosed with breast cancer. This randomized controlled trial with a pretest, posttest, control group, and one-month follow-up design included 46 female breast cancer survivors, recruited from the clinics and hematology wards of Bushehr, Iran. The inclusion criterion was that at least three months should have passed since the last chemotherapy/radiotherapy. The participants were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received eight sessions of mindfulness-based stress reduction training. A demographic information form and a rumination questionnaire were used for data collection, and the participants completed the questionnaire in the pretest, posttest, and follow-up stages. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, and repeated-measures ANOVA were used to analyze the data. P