Intervention
depression, Stress Reduction, anxiety
MAY, SECONDARY
The Stress Reduction Meditation and Mindfulness Program (PREMA) is based on the tripod: coping, mindfulness, and Introduction.Theme presentation.Self-awareness questions.Guided practice.The topics covered were stress, the Mind, resilience, emotional self-regulation, acceptance, self-efficacy, gratitude, social connections, and purpose. Each session addressed a coping tool related to the theme.The mindfulness practices addressed throughout the sessions were mindful breathing, mindful eating, mindful inventory of negative and positive emotions, compassion meditation, mindful walking, and reciprocity meditation.The sessions took place between May and July 2019 at the premises of the CICCV (for I-CICCV) and the Instituto Nacional de Cardiologia (for I-INC), and the data was collected from April to October 2019. The program was facilitated by the leading study researcher, a cardiologist with 23 years of experience in meditation and bhakti yoga, an internship in a hospital focusing on mind-body-spirit therapies (Bhaktivedanta Hospital – Mumbai/India), training in SMART® (Stress Management and Resilience Training) and Mindfulness programs, both from Case Western Reserve University and certification in yoga from VVY School.Support materials such as a handout and an audio CD for 45 minutes of daily practice were provided. Adherence to weekly tasks was observed through patient reports, meditation diary, and telemonitoring.The primary outcome assessed was perceived stress, and secondary outcomes were scores for anxiety, depression, mindfulness, quality of life, quality of sleep, functional capacity (6MWT), inflammatory panel (ESR, CRP), and neurohormonal panel (cortisol and NT-proBNP).