Positive Health and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) In the Oncology Population: A Pathway of Wholeness

Individuals with cancer would benefit from the design of an integrative health plan collaboratively designed and research driven. The plan, built on the bedrock of positive health, would incorporate five modules including mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). This capstone addresses the emergence of positive health as a new scientific field born out of positive psychology and explores the empirical roots of MBSR as a positive intervention in the oncology population. Positive health is based on the premise that health is a proactive process building strengths and resources rather than merely the absence of disease. Stress, impactful on health and well-being, can be both adaptive and harming depending on how it is perceived. MBSR, an exemplar of mindfulness meditation, provides a process of perception promoting new patterns of behaviors that are more responsive than reactive. Research in positive psychology, positive health and MBSR demonstrates that all promote psycho-physiological health and well-being. Well-being is an integrative process recognized as wholeness. This paper provides the foundation for the development of a strengths based counseling business working with the oncology population utilizing positive interventions.