Abstract

The present study was conducted with the objective to study the effect of vipassana meditation in reducing psycho-social stress among cancer patients. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant effect of meditation in reducing psycho-social stress. The study was conducted on a sample of 30 subjects in the age range of 40-50 years. Subjects were categorized into two Groups (Experimental Group and Control Group), 15 subjects in each group. Cancer patients were included in both the groups. Cancer Disease was diagnosed by the physician. Before starting the intervention program, for the Experimental group subjects were trained in vipassana meditation for one month and were asked to practice the meditation for one month. For control group subjects were not given any type of intervention. For measuring psychosocial stress, ICMR Psychosocial Stressor questionnaire by Srivastav (1992) was used. Pre- Post data was compared with the help of Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Z value was calculated for psychosocial stress in both the groups. A significant difference was found between the pre and post scores of psychosocial stress in experimental group (Z =3.41, p< .01) in comparison to the control group (Z =0.33). Further, result shows the significant reduction in the scores of psychosocial stress in experimental group whereas no significant reduction was observed in control group. So, it can be said that there is a significant positive effect of vipassana meditation in reducing psychosocial stress among cancer patients. Practicing Vipassana Meditation is a right way of living, in illness and in health.