The psychological health benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction in family caregivers of patients with dementia

Inclusion criteria: Non‐professional, adult caregiver of a person with dementia Exclusion criteria: Acute psychiatric illness or active substance abuse which precludes active participation in the course and commitment to practice. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been shown to reduce stress and improve chronic disease outcomes for many different medical problems. This study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of, and the mechanisms by which a MBSR‐based training course that is designed to better accommodate the needs of caregivers may reduce stress in non‐professional caregivers of patients with dementia. Our MBSR training course for caregivers is closely modeled after the MBSR curriculum originally established by the Center of Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts. Caregivers generally have a difficult time getting away to attend Mindfulness training. Based on evidence demonstrating that the length of classes is not correlated with mean effect, our MBSR course is especially modified to reduce class duration from 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours to accommodate the needs of caregivers. The course consists of a series of eight weekly classes meeting for 1.5 hours each, plus a four‐hour retreat during week six. During the sessions, participants learn and practice several mindfulness exercises, such as the body scan, sitting meditation, mindful yoga postures, and walking meditation, which aim to develop mindfulness and the ability to attend to the present moment “without judgment”. 1. Overall score from the Caregiver Self‐Assessment Questionnaire, a validated self‐administered tool for assessing caregivers’ own perceived depression, burden, stress and grief 2. Overall score from the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, a validated self‐administered tool for assessing the acquisition of mindfulness skills 3. Gene expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells 1. Self‐perceived depression assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale 2. Self‐perceived stress assessed using the 10‐Item Perceived Stress Scale 3. Self‐perceived burden assessed using the Rapid Screen for Caregiver Burden 4. Self‐perceived grief assessed using the Inventory of Traumatic Grief Pre‐Loss