The effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) on severity of symptoms and quality of life in people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders that reduce the quality of life. Since no physical cause has been identified for Irritable bowel syndrome, psychological interventions can be used to reduce the symptoms of the disease and increase the quality of life in people with IBS. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the severity of symptoms and quality of life in people with irritable bowel syndrome.

The present study was conducted as a quasi-experimental method of pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population included all patients with irritable bowel syndrome referred to the Razi subspecialty gastroenterology clinic in Rasht. 30 people were selected by convenience sampling method and assigned to experimental and control groups. The IBS Symptom Severity Scale and the Short Quality of Life Scale (SF-36) were used to collect data. After performing the intervention for 8 sessions, the research data were analyzed using SPSS software and a one-way analysis of covariance.

The result revealed significant differences between the mean scores of quality of life and severity of symptoms in the pre-test and post-test and post-test with follow-up (P <0.01).

Based on the results, it can be concluded that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is effective in reducing symptom severity and increasing the quality of life in people with irritable bowel syndrome.