Aim:

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based programme in reducing stress and anxiety among family caregivers of patients on Peritoneal Dialysis (PD). 

Method:

This single-site, pilot randomized study was conducted in Singapore General Hospital (SGH). Family caregivers of newly-diagnosed PD patients were recruited and randomly allocated to mindfulness training (MT) group or control group (treatment- as-usual; TAU). Both groups received a structured PD training program but only caregivers in MT group received four sessions of mindfulness training by a trained clinical psychologist. The primary outcomes were the change in score of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) from baseline to 4 weeks post-training. Both trait anxiety and state anxiety of the STAI were included in analysis.  Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the outcome data.

Results:

A total of 34 caregivers were recruited (MT, n = 12; TAU, n = 22). There was no significant difference in the baseline demographic between the two groups. PSS among the caregivers in the MT group improved significantly compared to TAU group whereas caregivers in TAU group had higher PSS after 4 weeks (median pre-post difference, MT = 4.0 vs TAU = -1.5, p = 0.01).  Trait anxiety (T-STAI) score at 4 weeks improved significantly among the caregivers of MT group than the TAU group (median of pre-post difference, MT = 2.5 vs TAU = 0.0, p = 0.03). However, there was no significant difference in the state anxiety symptoms (S-STAI) score between groups (p = 0.15).

Conclusion:

Mindfulness-based training has shown to be effective at reducing anxiety and perceived stress among family caregivers. However future studies will need to evaluate this training method with a longer follow-up and larger sample size.