How Does Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification Affect Pain Intensity, Pain Self-Efficacy, and Quality of Life in Chronic Pain Patients? An Experimental Single-Case Study.
Karin Matko, Meike Burzynski, Maximilian Pilhatsch, Benno Brinkhaus, Andreas Michalsen, Holger C Bringmann
Journal of Clinical Medicine May 31, 2023 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12113778 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental single-case multiple-baseline design Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 22 |
| Population | Patients with chronic pain (back pain, fibromyalgia, or migraines) |
| Intervention | Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification (MBLM) |
| Duration | 8-week intervention |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Chronic pain Ethics Individual differences Mind-body medicine Pain intensity Quality of life Self-efficacy Single-case research Yoga |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | MBLM produced clinically relevant improvements in pain self-efficacy, average pain intensity, and quality of life for a large proportion of participants, though individual responses varied. |
Abstract
Chronic pain is a growing worldwide health problem and complementary and integrative therapy options are becoming increasingly important. Multi-component yoga interventions represent such an integrative therapy approach with a promising body of evidence. The present study employed an experimental single-case multiple-baseline design. It investigated the effects of an 8-week yoga-based mind-body intervention, Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification (MBLM), in the treatment of chronic pain. The main outcomes were pain intensity (BPI-sf), quality of life (WHO-5), and pain self-efficacy (PSEQ). Twenty-two patients with chronic pain (back pain, fibromyalgia, or migraines) participated in the study and 17 women completed the intervention. MBLM proved to be an effective intervention for a large proportion of the participants. The largest effects were found for pain self-efficacy (TAU-U = 0.35), followed by average pain intensity (TAU-U = 0.21), quality of life (TAU-U = 0.23), and most severe pain (TAU-U = 0.14). However, the participants varied in their responses to the treatment. The present results point to relevant clinical effects of MBLM for the multifactorial conditions of chronic pain. Future controlled clinical studies should investigate its usefulness and safety with larger samples. The ethical and philosophical aspects of yoga should be further explored to verify their therapeutic utility.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cites 7
- Embodied Cognition in Meditation, Yoga, and Ethics—An Experimental Single-Case Study on the Differential Effects of Four Mind–Body Treatments International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health September 17, 2022
- Meditation‐based lifestyle modification in mild to moderate depression—A randomized controlled trial Depression and Anxiety March 21, 2022
- “To Be Finally at Peace with Myself”: A Qualitative Study Reflecting Experiences of the Meditation-Based Lifestyle Modification Program in Mild-to-Moderate Depression The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine June 29, 2021
- Differential Effects of Ethical Education, Physical Hatha Yoga, and Mantra Meditation on Well-Being and Stress in Healthy Participants-An Experimental Single-Case Study. Frontiers in Psychology 2021
- A Mind-Body Program for Older Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine March 1, 2016
and 2 more in the library