Mindfulness Meditation, Mental Health, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Chinese Buddhist Monastics

Abstract

Objective: To determine associations between mindfulness meditation and mental health and health-related quality of life among Buddhist monastics. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of Chinese Buddhist monastics aged ≥18 years who practised mindfulness meditation daily. Mental health was assessed by the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), whereas health-related quality of life was assessed by the 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12). The number of years and the average daily amount of time spent in mindfulness meditation were collected. Results: 47 monastics completed the interview. They practised mindfulness meditation for a mean of 7.3 years, 1.1 hours per day. Both the number of years (β =-0.48, p = 0.03) and amount of daily practice (β =-0.53, p lt; 0.001) of mindfulness meditation were associated with the GHQ-12 score, after adjusting for age, sex, education, and years of being a monastic. Only the amount of daily practice (β = 0.44, p = 0.004) was associated with the mental component summary of SF-12. Neither was associated with the physical component summary of SF-12. Conclusions: Among Chinese Buddhist monastics who practise daily mindfulness meditation, spending more time each day and having longer years of practice were associated with better mental health.