Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Bowel Symptoms: Collection of Pilot Survey Data

January 20, 2012 updated by: David Kearney, Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common, chronic disorder that significantly affects quality of life, and results in enormous expenditures each year in the United States. Therapy for IBS is generally unsatisfactory, and takes an additive approach whereby medications are prescribed according to each type of symptom the patient experiences. Accumulating evidence indicates that persons with IBS have a heightened perception of stress, and chronic stress has been shown to have a significant impact on IBS symptomatology. Mindfulness involves the ability to bring attention to the present moment without judgment; this ability is correlated with measures of mental health and decreased stress perception. The clinical literature suggests that mindfulness-based interventions may lead to improvement in many disorders including chronic pain, stress, anxiety, eating disorders and depressive relapse. The purpose of this study is to collect survey pilot data to determine whether an 8-week program of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) improves symptoms and quality of life for persons with IBS. Patients in the 8-week MBSR program are referred as part of their clinical care, and we seek approval only to collect survey data before and after the MBSR course. This study will evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence of efficacy to warrant a full clinical trial of MBSR.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Aim 1: Apply measures of IBS symptom severity, depression and quality of life before and after the MBSR course, to assess whether there is evidence of benefit, and allow calculation of standardized effect sizes. Aim 2: Apply a validated measure of mindfulness before and after treatment. Aim 3: Explore the relationship between IBS symptoms, mindfulness score, and frequency of mindfulness practice.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

93

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Washington
      • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98108
        • VA Puget Sound Health Care System

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All patient who enroll in a MBSR course

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychosis, borderline personality, active substance abuse

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MBSR
Patients who undergo mindfulness-based stress reduction will fill out measures of IBS severity before and after the mindfulness course.
Behavioral: mindfulness-based stress reduction
An 8-week course in mindfulness training

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) Symptom Severity Score (Total Score)
Time Frame: 6 months
The Irritable Bowel Severity Scoring System (IBSSS) provides a measure of the severity of IBS. The measure consists of five questions, which assess severity of abdominal pain, number of days with abdominal pain in past 10 days, severity of abdominal distension, satisfaction with bowel habits, and impact of IBS on life in general. The score on each of the 5 questions ranges from 0 to 100, and the scores are summed with a range of total possible scores from 0 to 500. Higher scores reflect more severe IBS. Total score was used in the analyses.
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Quality of Life
Time Frame: 6 months
The IBS-QOL is a disease specific Quality-of-Life Measure for IBS. IBS-QOL has been shown have a high level of content validity and to be responsive to change, and has been used in several outcome studies and clinical drug trials throughout the world. It consists of 34 questions that assess the influence of bowel habits on daily life. The response to each question is rated on a 5-point scale. A lower score indicates worse bowel-related quality of life. The summed total score is transformed to a 0-100 scale ranging from 0 (poor quality of life) to 100 (maximum quality of life).
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: David Kearney, MD, VA Puget Sound Heatlh Care System

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2008

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 10, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

April 13, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 27, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2012

Last Verified

January 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 0013

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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