Dispositional Mindfulness and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Mindful Awareness Mediates the Relation Between Severity and Quality of Life, Stress, and Fatigue

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and idiopathic gastrointestinal pathology whose bi-directional relation with psychological variables (e.g., quality of life, fatigue, and stress) has been studied in depth. Dispositional mindfulness has been related to a better quality of life and health in chronic diseases. The present study aims to examine the potential mediator influence of dispositional mindfulness in the association between disease severity and health-related quality of life, stress, and fatigue in IBD patients. In a cross-sectional study, 152 patients diagnosed with IBD were recruited from the digestive unit of Sagunt Hospital (Spain) where they were receiving treatment. Dispositional mindfulness, fatigue, perceived stress, health-related quality of life, and illness severity were measured. Subsequently, descriptive statistical analyses, Pearson product-moment correlations, multivariate analysis of variance, and mediation analyses were performed. Dispositional mindfulness facets were positively associated with quality of life, lower fatigue, and lower perceived stress levels (except for the observe subscale). Mediation analyses showed that IBD severity (moderate vs. mild patients) indirectly influenced quality of life (ab = −6.16, 95% CI [−13.46, −0.76]), perceived stress (ab = 2.23, 95% CI [0.41, 4.24]), and fatigue (ab = 3.24, 95% CI [0.48, 6.66]) through its effect on the dispositional mindfulness facet “acting with awareness.” Dispositional mindful awareness seems to be a protective factor in addition to a promising intervention target in IBD patients, whose severity only influences quality of life, perceived stress, and fatigue through it.