The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Psychological Distress and Job Stress in Female Teachers with Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Type 2 diabetes as a chronic and acute disease can increase psychological distress and job stress. Therefore, the present research was conducted with the aim of determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on psychological distress and job stress in female teachers with type 2 diabetes.

Methodology: This study was applied in terms of purpose and quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group in terms of implementation method. The population of this research was all female teachers with type 2 diabetes of Ardestan and Zavareh cities in the spring season of 2025 year, which number of 30 people of them were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly assigned into two equal groups. The experimental group received 8 sessions of 90 minutes of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and the control group remained on the waiting list for intervention. The instruments of the present research included the Psychological Distress Scale (Kessler et al., 2002) and Occupational Stress Inventory (Osipow & Spokane, 1987), and the data obtained were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance methods in SPSS-23 software.

Findings: The results of the present study showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduced psychological distress and all components of occupational stress including role workload, role incompetence, role duality, role scope, responsibility and physical environment in female teachers with type 2 diabetes (P<0.01).

Conclusion: Given the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in reducing psychological issues and job stress, counselors and psychologists can use mindfulness-based cognitive therapy along with other therapeutic methods to improve psychological characteristics.