Facing the Challenges of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation With Mindfulness Meditation: A Pilot Study

Abstract

The hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) experience is emotionally and physically stressful for cancer patients who undergo this procedure. Mindfulness-based interventions have been studied in patients with various diagnoses, including cancer, although minimal work has applied this intervention to hospitalized patients. Use of mindfulness meditation has potential to provide HSCT patients with coping skills to deal with unpleasant symptoms and an uncertain future. This exploratory study examined feasibility, physiological arousal, and psychological and physical symptoms in HSCT patients participating in a mindfulness meditation intervention that begins before and continues throughout hospitalization and involves one-on-one guided sessions and daily practice using a 17-minute meditation CD. Of the 20 participants, 78.9% completed the intervention. Statistically significant decreases in heart and respiratory rates and improvements in symptoms immediately before and after each session were found. These findings demonstrate feasibility and preliminary support of a mindfulness meditation intervention with symptomatic, hospitalized cancer patients.

Audio recordings of mindfulness-based stress reduction training to improve cancer patients’ mood and quality of life—a pilot feasibility study

“…Rosenbaum and colleagues designed an intervention for inpatients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplant in which participants received individualized meditation instruction along with a CD of meditation instructions. This study showed statistically significant decreases in participants' heart and respiratory rates and improvements in psychological symptoms immediately before and after each meditation session [33]. While not a study of cancer patients, Kabat-Zinn and colleagues developed an MBSR audio intervention for psoriasis patients to listen to while receiving phototherapy and compared those patients to those receiving usual care.…”

Mindfulness meditation lowers muscle sympathetic nerve activity and blood pressure in African-American males with chronic kidney disease

“…The standard guided meditation recording included several basic components of mindfulness: breathing awareness, mini body scan, and brief self-compassion. This particular meditation was used by our coinvestigator in a prior study that demonstrated acute improvements in psychological and physiological parameters (including anxiety, pain, heart rate, and respiratory rate) in a different patient population with chronic disease (bone marrow transplant recipients) (9). The goal of MM is to foster focused, nonjudgmental awareness of one's present-moment experience (i.e., sensations of breathing and other sensory stimuli) with an attitude of receptivity and acceptance.…”

“…MM is a stressreduction technique involving focused awareness on internal and external sensory stimuli in the present moment without judgment or cognitive elaboration (8,9). MM has been shown to lower BP in both normotensive and hypertensive patient groups, in some (7,17,27,32) but not all (13), prior studies.…”

Mind–Body Interventions in Oncology

“…Later studies at TBCC and elsewhere substantiated these results. Bauer-Wu and Rosenbaum adapted MBSR for individual use in isolated hospitalized bone-marrow transplant (BMT) patients, finding immediate effects on levels of pain and anxiety [30]. The TBCC group also investigated the effects of MBSR on biological outcomes in a pre-post MBSR intervention with 59 early-stage breast and prostate cancer survivors [31][32][33][34].…”