*Purpose: Stress triggers changes in the brain that make people appear distracted and forgetful. Chronic stress damages DNA, causes excess inflammation in the body, impairs immune function, and impacts how patients and caregivers communicate and make medical decisions. Patient stress is often associated with fear, unfamiliar surroundings, and coping with hospitalization. Stress also has the potential to be contagious, whereas the stress of patients can influence that of clinicians and staff. We sought to determine the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress resiliency interventions on hepatobiliary and other patients between August 2018 and May 2019.

*Methods: This study was a prospective pilot study of a stress resiliency intervention. The intervention we tested was a 1-hour session provided by a physical therapist that included meditation, breathing exercises, and/or guided imagery. The primary outcomes were the visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores, perceived stress, anxiety, and communication abilities measured pre- and post-intervention. Outcome variables were evaluated using parametric or non-parametric tests where appropriate. Differences were considered significant at p ≤ 0.05. All statistical analyses were performed using SAS v. 9.4.

*Results: Fifty-nine patients were treated in the pilot study and on average were 60.6 (14.6) years old, 57.6% female, and 58.9% White. Paired t-tests found VAS pain scores decreased significantly from pre-intervention to immediately post-intervention (t (20)=-12.96, p<.01). Patients reporting that they felt great or good increased 350% and 136%, respectively immediately post-intervention. Anxiety scores also decreased significantly (t(13)=2.90, p=.01) while communication abilities increased (t(12)=2.74, p=.02) from pre-intervention to 7-days post-intervention levels. We also found a moderate and significant, inverse correlation between anxiety and communication abilities (r=-.494, p<.01).

*Conclusions: Following our intervention, patients’ perceived stress, anxiety, and physical pain levels decreased and their communication abilities increased significantly. To further validate the efficacy of the intervention we developed, we will launch a randomized control trial. We believe that improving stress resiliency promotes effective communication and shared decision-making, which is the ideal model for globally improved outcomes.

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