Treatment allocation and randomization
Once informed consent was obtained from all study participants, they were randomly allocated to either a 9-Week MBSR program or to a 9-Week wait-list control group. A research staff member not involved in the study design prepared the randomization sequence in opaque sealed envelopes to ensure allocation concealment for distribution. All research staff, including the Principal Investigator (PI), were blinded to the randomization list. The wait-list control group received the MBSR intervention post-three-months when the experimental group was completed. Our study protocol has been published previously [