Introduction
’ pain
STRESSFUL EVENTS, DISEASE, CHRONIC DISEASES, COMPLICATIONS
Population aging is currently a worldwide phenomenon. Senior members of society are prone to chronic diseases, adding extra complications to pre-existing disabilities. Permanent relocation to long-term care (LTC) facilities becomes increasingly common among dependent seniors, due to the inability of family caregivers to provide complex 24-h care. While seniors with disabilities are bound to stay in a restrictive environment, the stressful event of institutionalization typically results in loss of independence, privacy, and shared social interaction with loved ones [To address the multiple care needs of seniors with disabilities, holistic care models and interventions that address body, mind and spirit are specifically emphasized in residential care settings. The efficacy of mind-and-body approaches such as mindfulness-based interventions are well-supported across various disease and age populations to promote individual physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being [Practicing mindfulness has yielded noticeable physio-psycho-spiritual effectiveness through an individual’s bio-physiological pathway, adaptive psychological processes, and personal spiritual growth [Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) programs [Despite the need to incorporate seniors from various settings into future mindfulness-based empirical research, current MBSR curriculums may not be suitable for seniors in residential care settings because of their compromised cognition and insufficient concentration originating from physical, cognitive, and communication infirmities. McBee and colleagues responded to these concerns and developed the first mindfulness-based elder care (MBEC) program in the late 90 s [Although MBEC, centering on the self-awareness of “here and now,” was readily acceptable among seniors and their caregivers, only a few studies have supported its effects on senior residents’ pain intensity and mental health outcomes (effect size = 0.45) [