The Efficacy of Group Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Training on Premenstrual Symptoms and Anxiety

A mindfulness-based group stress reduction program reduced premenstrual symptoms and anxiety in female university students. Thirty women were assigned to either an eight-session mindfulness therapy group or a control group. Premenstrual symptoms and anxiety were measured before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention. The mindfulness group showed decreases in both premenstrual symptoms and anxiety, and these reductions were maintained at the three-month follow-up.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based group stress reduction training on premenstrual symptoms and anxiety in women. This study was a practical and quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest follow-up and a control group. The statistical population of this study included all female students of Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch in 2017, of which 30 eligible subjects were selected by the purposive sampling method and replaced into two experimental and control groups. The study instruments were measurement of the Premenstrual Syndrome Scale (MPSS) by Delara et al. (2011) and the Cattell Anxiety Scale (CAS). After the implementation of 8 sessions of Cognitive Disease-Based Mindfulness Therapy in the experimental group, the data obtained from the implementation of questionnaires in three phases: Pretest, Posttest, and Follow-up, were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with SPSS version 22. The results showed that group mindfulness training decreased premenstrual symptoms (F=34.46, P=0.0001) and anxiety (F=33.54, P=0.0001) in female students, and the effectiveness of the mindfulness method was maintained in the three-month follow-up period. The results of the present study indicate that mindfulness-based group training is an effective method to reduce premenstrual symptoms and anxiety.