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Effect of brief mindfulness intervention on tolerance and distress of pain induced by cold-pressor task.

Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress
August 1, 2013
Xinghua Liu et al. (5 authors)
Journal ArticleRandomized Controlled TrialResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tHuman StudyClinical
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to determine whether brief mindfulness intervention delivered via pre-recorded instructions could improve pain tolerance and reduce distress in healthy college students undergoing a cold-pressor task.

Results Summary

The mindfulness intervention significantly improved pain tolerance and reduced distress compared to spontaneous strategies, while the distraction strategy improved pain tolerance but not distress levels.

Population

Healthy college students

Effective Dosage

Not specified

Duration

Brief (exact duration not specified)

Interactions

None mentioned

Extracted Claims (5)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
short-term meditation intervention
increase
tolerance and pain or distress ratings of experimentally induced pain
-
-
can lead to greater tolerance and lower pain or distress ratings
#1
brief mindfulness intervention using pre-recorded instruction
increase
pain tolerance
healthy college students
-
significantly improved
#2
mindfulness intervention
decrease
immersion distress
participants
-
reduced
#3
distraction strategy
increase
pain tolerance
participants
-
significantly improved
#4
distraction strategy
no change
level of distress during the immersion period
participants
-
did not have a significant effect
#5
Abstract

A number of studies have demonstrated that short-term meditation intervention can lead to greater tolerance and lower pain or distress ratings of experimentally induced pain. However, few attempts have been made to examine the effects of short-term mindfulness-based intervention on the tolerance and distress of pain, when delivered in a therapist-free form. The present research explored the effect of brief mindfulness intervention using pre-recorded instruction on pain experimentally induced by the cold-pressor task. The effects of the mindfulness strategy, the distraction strategy and spontaneous strategy, all through the instructions of pre-recorded voices, were compared. The subjects were drawn from healthy college students and randomly assigned to the aforementioned three groups. Our results showed that compared with using spontaneous strategies, the mindfulness intervention significantly improved the participants' pain tolerance and reduced their immersion distress. The distraction strategy also significantly improved the participants' pain tolerance. However, it did not have a significant effect on the participants' level of distress during the immersion period. Our results suggest that brief mindfulness intervention without a therapist's personal involvement is capable of helping people cope with pain induced by the cold-pressor task.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
Adaptation, PsychologicalAnalysis of VarianceCold TemperatureFemaleHumansMindfulnessPainPain ManagementPain MeasurementStress, PsychologicalTape RecordingTreatment OutcomeYoung Adult
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy85/10
Quality75/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations50
Citations/Year4.2
Relative Citation Ratio2.37
NIH Percentile79.4%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.75
Weight Score1.56
Normalized Score0.69
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