Shared Meditation Involving Cancer Patients, Health Professionals and Third Persons: Perceptions of Participants Through a Focus Group Study
Virginie Prevost PhD, Titi Tran Btec, Bénédicte Clarisse PhD, Alexandra Leconte MSc, Nathalie Duchange PhD, Grégoire Moutel PhD, MA Mylène Gouriot
Integrative Cancer Therapies July 15, 2023 DOI: 10.1177/15347354231186995 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study (focus groups within a pilot study) Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 22 |
| Population | Cancer patients, health professionals, and third persons |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Registration | NCT04410185 |
| Key findings | Participants who meditated together reported better stress management, and patients found the shared practice motivating and a way to relieve feelings of loneliness. |
Abstract
People with cancer often experience psychological distress and in addition, the practice of oncology is one of the most stressful areas of medicine for health professionals. Mindfulness meditation has been used to alleviate stress-related symptoms. We therefore ran a pilot study to assess the feasibility of a mindfulness intervention involving cancer patients, health professionals, and third persons together, as part of a comprehensive project aiming to evaluate the added value of ‘meditating together’. Following on from our quantitative analyses of the project, we investigated its qualitative aspects through focus groups to explore the perceptions of participants regarding their experience. Focus groups conducted in 7 patients, 7 health professionals, and 8 third persons after the intervention showed that ‘meditating together’ was generally appreciated, particularly by patients, who found it motivating and a way to relieve their feelings of loneliness in the face of illness. All participants reported better stress management. They also shared benefits and difficulties concerning the practice of meditation and the programme’s modalities. In addition, they all stated that the programme should be lasting. The opinion of the patients (our target population) will be decisive in building an optimized programme that will suit them the best. In conclusion, the protocol and the qualitative findings of the present study validate the rationale for conducting a fully powered randomized trial to demonstrate the potential added value of shared meditation and how it improves well-being by promoting bridge-building between cancer patients, health professionals and others. Trial Registration : ClinicalTrials.gov. NCT04410185. Registered on June 1, 2020
Comparable studies
Other non-randomized and open-label trials on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Relation to Quality of Life, Mood, Symptoms of Stress, and Immune Parameters in Breast and Prostate Cancer Outpatients Early-stage breast and prostate cancer patients | 2003 | Pre-post intervention study | n = 59 |
| Exploring self‐compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) Community sample | 2010 | Pre-post intervention study | |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Lowers Psychological Distress In Medical Students Second-year medical students | 2003 | Prospective nonrandomized cohort-controlled study | n = 302 |
| Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators. Retreat participants and matched controls | 2011 | Controlled trial with wait-list control group | n = 60 |
| The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents Children aged 8-12 with ADHD and their parents | 2011 | Within-group waitlist controlled trial | n = 22 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- A randomised study to evaluate the potential added value of shared meditation involving people with cancer, health professionals and third persons compared to meditation conducted with patients only: design of the Implic-2 protocol. BMC cancer September 4, 2024
- The Experience of Shared Meditation Involving People With Cancer, Health Professionals and Third Persons: A Qualitative Focus-Group Study Integrative Cancer Therapies April 1, 2026
Cites 11
- Mindfulness-based interventions: an overall review British Medical Bulletin April 21, 2021
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as a Stress Management Intervention for Healthy Individuals Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine July 22, 2014
- Mindfulness‐based interventions for psychological and physical health outcomes in cancer patients and survivors: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials Psycho-Oncology September 11, 2019
- Feasibility of Formal Mindfulness-Based Stress-Resilience Training Among Surgery Interns JAMA Surgery August 30, 2018
- Shared meditation involving cancer patients, health professionals and third persons is relevant and improves well-being: IMPLIC pilot study BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies May 18, 2022
and 6 more in the library