Effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapies on people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effects of mindfulness-based therapies (MBTs) on the outcomes of people living with HIV.Methods: During 2014, we searched the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and CBM databases to identify randomized and non-randomized controlled studies which compared participants receiving mindfulness-based therapies (MBTs), including mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), with participants in control groups. The psychological, biochemical, clinical, and behavioral outcomes of the study participants were analyzed. Two separate reviewers independently performed the study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment tasks, and a meta-analysis of selected studies was performed using RevMan software.Results: Seven articles describing results obtained with a total of 620 HIV-infected individuals enrolled in six randomized trials and one quasi-experimental trial were included in the final meta-analysis. The overall methodological quality of the studies was moderate, as most study criteria were unclear and subject to a high risk of bias. Patients receiving MBT experienced significantly decreased feelings of stress after 8 weeks (p = 0.03) of MBT, and decreased feelings of depression after both 8 weeks (p = 0.04) and 6 months (p = 0.02). Additionally, some patients receiving MBSR training or MBCT showed improved CD4 + counts at 8 weeks and 6 months, respectively. Conclusion:While MBT produced psychological benefits in HIV infected patients, any improvements in CD4 + counts were not robust. Additional studies with longer term follow-up periods and larger sample sizes are required to ascertain the effectiveness of such interventions.

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Group Therapy in Reducing Negative Automatic Thoughts and Dysfunctional Attitudes in Cancer Patients

“…It can be proposed that MBCT has reduced negative automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes in the members of the experimental group at the post-test stage in comparison to the members of the control group. This finding is in conformity with the study results achieved by Garcia et al [26], Taimori et al [12], Safa et al [13], Omidi et al [27], Yang et al [14], Abbott et al [15], Foley et al [11] and Hofman et al [16].…”

“…The positive effects of MBCT on psychological and mental problems of cancer patients have been proven in various studies [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Wood et al [9] propose that MBCT is effective in restructuring dysfunctional thinking and negative cognitions in cancer patients.…”

The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Training on Anxiety of Death and Thoughts of Suicide of Patients With Cancer

“…The effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on psychological problems of cancer patients in several studies had been approved [11,[17][18][19][20][21].…”

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) as An Addition to Psychiatric Care as Usual Useful for HIV-infected Patients with Mental Health Symptoms

“…Some research has been conducted into the effects of MBCT for HIV-infected patients [17]. The usefulness of MBCT has been tested in a few studies with divergent treatment outcomes, such as improvement of immunity, physical symptoms, side effects of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and mental health symptoms.…”

“…However, no significant changes or differences were found for psychological, endocrine, or functional health variables. The studies of Duncan [19], Gayner [21] and Gonzales-Garcia [22] showed that MBT was marginally beneficial for relieving symptoms of depression in HIV-infected patients [17].…”