Transforming the Perceptual Situation: a Meta-ethnography of qualitative Work Reporting Patients' Experiences of Mindfulness-Based Approaches

The UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommends Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for the prevention of relapse in chronic depression. Since Jon Kabat-Zinn first developed Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in the 1980s, most research has focused on questions of efficacy, i. e. does mindfulness work? More recently, interest has emerged in how mindfulness-based interventions, such as MBSR and MBCT, are experienced by participants. To evaluate how participants experience the 8-week MBSR/MBCT process, we carried out a meta-ethnography of published qualitative papers since 2001, whose focus is the patient experience of MBCT and MBSR. A systematic search of six databases was carried out. Relevant papers were critically appraised using a modified version of the Critical Appraisal Skills programme tool. Fourteen papers, each representing a unique study, were included in the metaethnography. The synthesis describes patients' experience of the mindfulness process. Linking patient experiences to existing theories of mindfulness and chronic illness, the synthesis conceptualises the way participants develop a new understanding of their illness over time, and the role mindfulness approaches have in helping them manage their difficulties better.