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Dispositional Mindfulness and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Mindful Awareness Mediates the Relation Between Severity and Quality of Life, Stress, and Fatigue

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Abstract

Objectives

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and idiopathic gastrointestinal pathology whose bi-directional relation with psychological variables (e.g., quality of life, fatigue, and stress) has been studied in depth. Dispositional mindfulness has been related to a better quality of life and health in chronic diseases. The present study aims to examine the potential mediator influence of dispositional mindfulness in the association between disease severity and health-related quality of life, stress, and fatigue in IBD patients.

Methods

In a cross-sectional study, 152 patients diagnosed with IBD were recruited from the digestive unit of Sagunt Hospital (Spain) where they were receiving treatment. Dispositional mindfulness, fatigue, perceived stress, health-related quality of life, and illness severity were measured. Subsequently, descriptive statistical analyses, Pearson product-moment correlations, multivariate analysis of variance, and mediation analyses were performed.

Results

Dispositional mindfulness facets were positively associated with quality of life, lower fatigue, and lower perceived stress levels (except for the observe subscale). Mediation analyses showed that IBD severity (moderate vs. mild patients) indirectly influenced quality of life (ab = −6.16, 95% CI [−13.46, −0.76]), perceived stress (ab = 2.23, 95% CI [0.41, 4.24]), and fatigue (ab = 3.24, 95% CI [0.48, 6.66]) through its effect on the dispositional mindfulness facet “acting with awareness.”

Conclusions

Dispositional mindful awareness seems to be a protective factor in addition to a promising intervention target in IBD patients, whose severity only influences quality of life, perceived stress, and fatigue through it.

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Funding

This work was supported by CIBEROBN, an initiative of the ISCIII (ISC III CB06 03/0052) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) under AMABLE-VR (RTI2018-097835-A-I00).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Personality, Evaluation, and Psychological Treatments, University of Valencia, Avd/Blasco Ibañez 21, Valencia, Spain

    Jaime Navarrete, Rosa M. Baños & Ausiàs Cebolla

  2. Department of Nursing, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, Castellon, Spain

    Rafael González-Moret

  3. Internal Medicine Service, Digestive Medicine Section, Hospital Universitario de Sagunto, Valencia, Spain

    Xavier Cortés

  4. Obesity and Nutrition Pathophysiology CIBER (CB06/03), Instituto Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Juan Francisco Lisón, Rosa M. Baños & Ausiàs Cebolla

  5. Department of Medicine, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, Valencia, Spain

    Juan Francisco Lisón

  6. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU Universities, Valencia, Spain

    José Miguel Soria

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  1. Jaime Navarrete
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  2. Rafael González-Moret
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  3. Xavier Cortés
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  7. Ausiàs Cebolla
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Contributions

JN and XC performed the recruitment. JN conducted the formal analyses and wrote the results section. JN, AC, and RMB wrote the original draft. RG-M, JFL, JMS, and XC collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript. All author approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Ausiàs Cebolla.

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This cross-sectional study was approved by the Human Ethics Committee at the University Hospital of Sagunto (Spain).

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Freely given, informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from participants.

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Navarrete, J., González-Moret, R., Cortés, X. et al. Dispositional Mindfulness and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Mindful Awareness Mediates the Relation Between Severity and Quality of Life, Stress, and Fatigue. Mindfulness 12, 1524–1533 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01620-w

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