Mindfulness Meditation Program in Inpatient Spinal Cord Injury Setting

ABSTRACT

Objectives: There are four constituents of well-being that people can be trained in awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. Well-being is a skill. Research is shown that interventions to strengthen these components are linked with potentially health-promoting changes inside the brain. Emotional well-being is recognized as one of the six indicators by Spinal cord Injury Implementation and Evaluation Quality Care Consortium. Benefits of mindfulness include reduced stress, less anxiety, a great sense of calm and increased focus and attention. The objective of this program is to cultivate the practice of mindfulness meditation as a skill to address emotional well-being following a spinal cord injury. Methods: A mindfulness meditation program is offered for inpatient spinal cord injury (SCI)/disease at Providence Care Hospital in Kingston, Ontario. This program started in January 2019, however the program interrupted for a few months due to COVID 19 pandemic. This program is guided by three rehabilitation team members including spiritual care provider, social worker and behavioral technologist. The session is held once weekly for four consecutive weeks and each session lasts 60 minutes. The sessions are not dependent on each other. The goal of the program is to learn about mindfulness and stress tolerance skills and to begin developing a personal practice. The participants fill out a feedback questionnaire at the end of fourth session. Results: The feedback from patients was positive. Patients rated the program is helpful (8-10/10). The participants found the most helpful part of the program;being in the moment with yourself, connecting with people being present, connection, finding peace in your mind and take time to regenerate energy. Conclusion: In the rehabilitation setting a holistic approach is the key to success and emotional well-being is underestimated. The patient's health outcome can be maximized not only through physical activity but also through strengthening of their mind by practicing mindfulness. The notion that our mind and mental processes are influenced by the health of our bodies requires further exploration in the SCI population.