Study: Mindfulness Improves Sleep, Reduces Stress In Cancer Survivors, Caregivers

Results of the pilot feasibility study are published online in the journal OBM Neurobiology.

“This marks the first time the Mindfulness In Motion (MIM) program has been tested in cancer survivors and their caregivers, and these findings support this mindfulness intervention as feasible and well-accepted,” said lead author Maryanna Klatt, a professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

The study involved 20 cancer survivors and 5 caregivers who were recruited from the JamesCare for Life survivorship program at the James Cancer Hospital and Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. Participants included survivors of breast, endometrial, cervical, ovarian, leukemia, lymphoma, prostate and skin cancer.

Sleep, resilience and perceived stress were assessed pre- and post-intervention. During the mindfulness intervention, participants attended one-hour group meetings once a week. Using a secure password protected website, they also individually performed pre-recorded mindfulness meditations accompanied by music and gentle yoga movements daily.

“Significant improvements were observed in sleep quality, resilience and perceived stress, with the survivors and caregivers noting the importance of having a mixed group of survivors and caregivers in the group intervention,” Klatt said.

“The findings of this pilot study will be valuable in refining the intervention and planning a larger randomized controlled trial,” Klatt said. “We plan to film and disseminate, via video, the Mindfulness in Motion intervention for cancer survivors so that survivors who live varying distances from academic medical centers could have access to the program.”

Klatt collaborated with researchers at the OhioHealth Genetic Counseling Program, Ohio State’s Biomedical Informatics and Ohio State’s College of Public Health.

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Media Contact: Eileen Scahill, Wexner Medical Center Media Relations, 614-293-3737, Eileen.Scahill@osumc.edu