Relationship of mindfulness with depression, self-management, and quality of life in type 2 diabetes mellitus: Mindfulness is a predictor of quality of life

Abstract

Context: Mindfulness interventions have shown promising results in both psychological and clinical outcomes of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Depression, self-management, and quality of life (QOL) have shown improvement with mindfulness interventions; however, little is known about dispositional mindfulness and its relationship with depression, self-management, and QOL in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Aims: The aim of this study is to assess the relationship of dispositional mindfulness with depression, self-management, and QOL in patients of type 2 diabetes. Settings and Design: Noncommunicable disease outpatient department of a tertiary care medical center of East India. Cross-sectional study. Subjects and Methods: Ninety-nine patients with type 2 diabetes completed the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire, Diabetes Self-Management Questionnaire, and World Health Organization QOL BREF questionnaire and Hamilton Rating Scale for depression. Statistical Analysis Used: Pearson's correlation and hierarchical regression analysis using the SPSS software version 20.0. Results: Describing, acting with awareness, and nonjudging facets of mindfulness showed a negative correlation with depression (P < 0.05). Acting with awareness and nonreactivity to inner experience were positively correlated with the physical activity domains of self-management (P < 0.05). All facets of mindfulness showed a positive correlation with four domains of QOL. In hierarchical regression analysis, after controlling for sociodemographic and clinical variables, mindfulness predicted the psychological domain of QOL, explaining 31% of the variance (P ≤ 0.001). However, mindfulness did not predict depression or self-management. Conclusions: Dispositional mindfulness is a strong predictor of QOL in type 2 diabetes mellitus and hence can be targeted with interventions to improve psychological outcomes.