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 meta-ethnography. 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.