Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy and Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction on Wound Healing and Perceived Stress in Post Abdominal Surgery Patients

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of hypnotherapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy (MBSR) on wound healing and perceived stress in post abdominal surgery patients.

The statistical population included all patients who were candidates for abdominal surgery admitted to Golestan Hospital in Tehran. 75 of these patients were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly divided into 3 study groups. The first group received an 8-session intervention of hypnotherapy and the second group received an 8-session MBSR intervention and the third group was considered as a control. Data were collected using the Bates-Jensen Wound Assessment Scale (Bates-Jensen & Sussman, 2012) and the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (Cohen et al., 1983) and analyzed by repeated measurement variance analysis.

The results showed that hypnotherapy and MBSR have an effect on wound healing and perceived stress in post abdominal surgery patients (P <0.001).

Hypnotherapy and MBSR accelerate wound healing and also reduce side effects and perceived stress in the post-test and follow-up phase in the above patients. Therefore, these two treatment models can be used as adjunctive therapy to prevent or reduce complications after abdominal surgery.