The effect of a mindfulness based psycoeducation program on the perceived stress level and emotion regulation strategies of patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder

This study was conducted to determine the effect of mindfulness-based psychoeducation program given to patients with bipolar disorder on emotion regulation strategies and perceived stress levels of patients. The research was carried out as a quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest control group. Patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder and registered to Community Mental Health Centers in Gaziantep constituted the population of the study, and a total of 71 patients, 35 experimental and 36 control groups, who met the research criteria, constituted the sample of the study. Mindfulness based psychoeducation program was implemented as group training, with 2 sessions per week, a total of 6 sessions. Sessions were completed in 3 weeks. The data were collected with the Sociodemographic Information Form, the Mindfulness Scale (MS), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and analyzed with the SPSS 22.0 package program. Participants of the study; It was determined that 61.9% were male, 86.3% were married, 53.5% were between the ages of 25-44, and 66.2% were diagnosed with bipolar between the ages of 20-39. In the post-test, it was determined that the mean of the PPS and ERQ Cognitive Re-evaluation dimensions of the experimental group increased significantly compared to the control group, and the mean of the PSS and ERQ Suppression dimensions was significantly decreased (p<0.05). In comparisons within the group, the post-test MS and ERQ Cognitive Reassessment mean scores of the experimental group increased significantly compared to the pre-test, while the mean scores of PSS and ERQ Suppression decreased significantly (p<0.01). In the intragroup comparisons of the control group, there was no significant change in the mean scores of ERQ Suppression and PSS in the posttest (p>0.05). It was determined that the Mindfulness Based Psychoeducation Program had a positive effect on increasing the mindfulness of the patients, reducing their perceived stress and emotion regulation strategies. It is recommended that mindfulness based psychoeducation practices must be given by psychiatric nurses and other mental health professionals in the treatment of patients with bipolar disorder.