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Sick and Tired: Understanding and Managing Sleep Difficulties in ...

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1994; Kaplan et al., 1993) with participants report<strong>in</strong>g that due to symptom variability,<br />

they often f<strong>in</strong>d it difficult to attend appo<strong>in</strong>tments if they have an unexpected flare-up,<br />

<strong>and</strong> many found that travell<strong>in</strong>g to health care centres lead to an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> fatigue. Such<br />

difficulties may prevent people with FMS from fully engag<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> rehabilitation<br />

<strong>in</strong>terventions, therefore <strong>in</strong>troduc<strong>in</strong>g a self-selection bias <strong>in</strong>to these studies (Lush et al.,<br />

2009). Participants with FMS may also f<strong>in</strong>d some of the techniques difficult, for<br />

example, sitt<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> one position for a long period of time may <strong>in</strong>crease levels of pa<strong>in</strong>.<br />

Consequently, <strong>in</strong> order to overcome some of these feasibility issues, m<strong>in</strong>dfulness<br />

<strong>in</strong>terventions may need to be delivered <strong>in</strong> an alternative format which will <strong>in</strong>crease<br />

accessibility for patients with FMS.<br />

The M<strong>in</strong>dfulness Body Scan<br />

Although commonly taught <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>tensive group sessions, the m<strong>in</strong>dfulness approach also<br />

lends itself to the use of particular „m<strong>in</strong>dfulness based‟ techniques at home. One such<br />

technique is the m<strong>in</strong>dfulness body scan, which is an <strong>in</strong>troductory exercise used at the<br />

beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of the MBSR programme to help patients learn the skills of m<strong>in</strong>dfulness <strong>and</strong><br />

to <strong>in</strong>crease self awareness through direct<strong>in</strong>g their attention to their breath<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />

different parts of the body. Participants are asked to scan different parts of their body to<br />

notice if they are experienc<strong>in</strong>g any physical sensations <strong>in</strong> that part of the body, to<br />

explore what they feel like <strong>and</strong> to accept these sensations whether they are pleasant or<br />

unpleasant. The m<strong>in</strong>dfulness body scan can be delivered by audiotape (Ditto, Eclache,<br />

& Goldman, 2006) which can <strong>in</strong>crease accessibility of m<strong>in</strong>dfulness <strong>in</strong>terventions for<br />

patients unable to access the full MBSR programme. This study aims to explore if a<br />

brief audio body scan <strong>in</strong>tervention, delivered with<strong>in</strong> a community sett<strong>in</strong>g, is feasible <strong>and</strong><br />

associated with improvements <strong>in</strong> sleep quality <strong>and</strong> health related quality of life for<br />

people with FMS.<br />

Previous studies have highlighted feasibility difficulties <strong>in</strong> implement<strong>in</strong>g m<strong>in</strong>dfulness<br />

with people with FMS. However, the aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of a<br />

modified m<strong>in</strong>dfulness <strong>in</strong>tervention for this population. The study also aimed to explore<br />

trends <strong>in</strong> health outcomes to determ<strong>in</strong>e if the modified <strong>in</strong>tervention warrants further<br />

<strong>in</strong>vestigation <strong>in</strong> studies powered to explore the size <strong>and</strong> direction of any effects.<br />

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