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Evaluating distance education of a mindfulness-based meditation programme for chronic pain management

Jacqueline Gardner-Nix, Stéphanie Backman, Julianna Barbati, Jessica Grummitt

Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare March 1, 2008 DOI: 10.1258/jtt.2007.070811 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Quasi-experimental with waitlist control Peer reviewed
Sample size 215
Population Chronic pain patients from two large urban hospitals and rural hospitals in Ontario
Intervention Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management course
Duration 10-week intervention, measures collected over two years
Topics Meditation
Key findings Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management delivered via videoconferencing improved mental health and pain catastrophizing similarly to in-person delivery, though in-person delivery yielded better physical quality of life and lower pain ratings.

Abstract

Summary Patients with chronic pain were recruited from two large urban hospitals and from rural hospitals in Ontario. Patients on the waiting list served as controls. The intervention was a Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management course, delivered to patients for two hours per week for 10 weeks. Pre- and postcourse measures of quality of life, pain catastrophizing and usual pain ratings were collected over a period of two years. Patients received the course via traditional face-to-face, in-person teaching (Present site group) or via videoconferencing at their local hospital site (Distant site group). In all, there were 99 Present site participants, 57 at Distant sites and 59 waitlist controls. Patients at Present and Distant sites achieved similar gains in mental health ( P < 0.01) and pain catastrophizing levels ( P < 0.01) relative to controls. However, the Present site group obtained significantly higher scores on the physical dimension of quality of life ( P < 0.01) and lower usual-pain ratings ( P < 0.05) than the Distant site group. The results suggest that videoconferencing is an effective mode of delivery for the Mindfulness course and may represent a new way of helping chronic pain patients in rural areas manage their suffering.

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

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