The Effects of Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction on Overall Quality of Life and Its Components in Head and Neck Cancer: Finding Answers in a Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective This multicenter randomized controlled trial compared the changes in the degree of quality of life (QOL) and its components between mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) and treatment‐as‐usual (TAU) groups over 3 points of time (T 0 = preintervention baseline assessment; T 1 = postintervention, which was right after the intervention completed or 6 weeks after the intervention began; and T 2 = follow‐up, which was 12 weeks after the intervention ended) in head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. Methods A total of 120 HNC patients were randomized into MBSR ( n = 60) and TAU ( n = 60) groups and administered the demographic and clinical data questionnaire and the Malay version of the Functional Assessment for Cancer Therapy‐General and Head and Neck module (FACT‐General and FACT‐HN; to assess the QOL) across the three time points (T 0, T 1, and T 2 ). Results In the MBSR group, the main effect of the interaction between group and time for total FACT‐General F(2, 232) = 24.7, p < 0.001, social relationship F(2, 227) = 21.7, p < 0.001, and emotion‐related QOL F(2, 230) = 35.1, p < 0.001 was significant after adjusting for confounding factors (such as age of participants, marital status, types of HNC, and stage of cancer). The total FACT‐General and social relationship‐related QOL scores of participants significantly increased from T 0 to T 1 and from T 1 to T 2 , while the emotion‐related QOL score significantly increased from T 1 to T 2 . However, MBSR exhibited only a small effect on the physical health, functional, and the HN‐related QOL scores in the MBSR group across the three time points. Conclusion MBSR enhances the overall QOL by enhancing the social and emotional components of QOL across time when compared with TAU. Hence, MBSR may be considered as part of the treatment regime for HNC, but its effect on QOL among HNC patients should be confirmed in the future study with longer follow‐up assessments. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04800419