The effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the mental health of postmenopausal women

Background and Object: 

Women make up half of the population of any society and their physical and mental health is directly related to family functioning. Given the importance of the role of women in the family as mothers and their pivotal emotional and psychological role in the family, reducing menopausal complications and problems is important for them and will have a direct impact on the family and reciprocally on society. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the mental health of postmenopausal women in Ghaemshahr.

This study was a randomized experimental with pretest-posttest. Among postmenopausal women referred to Ghaemshahr medical centers, 40 people were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy during 8 sessions. The GHQ-28 General Health Questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance and univariate analysis of covariance.

The results showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy had a significant effect on the overall score of mental health (p˂0.05), also had a significant effect on the dimensions of mental health and physical, dysfunction, anxiety and depression (p˂0 / 05).

Based on the findings of the present study, the use of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is suggested as an effective psychological intervention to improve mental health in postmenopausal women.