Mod Care J. 2024 January; 21(1):e138180. Published online 2023 October 21. https://doi.org/10.5812/mcj-138180. Research Article Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Counseling on the Health Promoting Lifestyle in Iranian Middle-Aged Women: An Experimental Study Mojgan Nekoei 1 , Nasser Behroozi 2 , Saeed Ghanbari 3 and Zahra Abbaspoor 1, * 1 Department of Midwifery, Menopause Andropause Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran 2 Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran 3 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran * Corresponding author: Department of Midwifery, Menopause Andropause Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Email: abbaspoorzahra7@gmail.com Received 2023 June 11; Revised 2023 August 16; Accepted 2023 August 28. Abstract Background: Various psychological, social, and biological factors affect the lifestyles of middle-aged women, and unhealthy lifestyles are primary concerns, according to the World Health Organization. Mindfulness counseling has emerged as a widely used approach to modifying and improving lifestyles. Objectives: This study assessed the effectiveness of mindfulness-based counseling on the health-promoting lifestyle in Iranian middle-aged women. Methods: An experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design and a control group involving 48 middle-aged women who were referred to Comprehensive Health Services Center No. 1 in Lordegan, Iran. The study was initiated in October 2020 and finished in February 2021. The first step was to recruit women through convenience sampling and then randomly assign them to the intervention (n = 24) and control (n = 24) groups. The intervention group received mindfulness counseling from a trained midwife once a week for 8 weeks. Walker’s health-promoting lifestyle profile II (HPLP II) was completed at the beginning of the study and 4 weeks after the intervention. Independent and paired t-tests, chi-square, and Fisher’s exact tests were used for data analysis in SPSS v. 24. Statistical significance was attributed to a P-value of less than 0.05. Results: Before any intervention, no notable difference was detected in the average health promotion lifestyle in the intervention (113.04 ± 24.05) and control (109.41 ± 15.68) groups (P = 0.539) and the dimensions of both groups (P > 0.05). However, the intervention group showed a significantly higher mean (151.66 ± 14.01) for the health-promoting lifestyle than the control group (107.75 ± 12.27) following the counseling sessions (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Enhancing the health-promoting lifestyle and, subsequently, the quality of life of middle-aged women can be achieved through mindfulness counseling. Therefore, the administration of group counseling incorporating mindfulness techniques is recommended for this population. Keywords: Counseling, Lifestyle, Health Promotion, Middle Aged, Mindfulness 1. Background Middle age is a significant phase in a woman’s life, typically spanning from 40 to 60 years of age (1). According to a report from the Statistical Centre of Iran, 23% of Iranian women are middle-aged (2). Middle-aged women are usually exposed to several health conditions, including physical changes such as decreased physical ability and visual acuity, as well as alterations in their overall health status (3). Additionally, they may experience a decline in self-confidence, a sense of diminished control over their lives, decreased well-being and self-worth, and a higher prevalence of depression and psychological problems (4). Unhealthy lifestyles are another major concern, as highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO reports that 60% of global deaths and 80% of deaths in developing countries are attributed to unhealthy lifestyle choices. These statistics are projected to reach 75% of the global mortality by 2030 (5). Individuals are encouraged to adopt a health-promoting lifestyle to mitigate this trend; this lifestyle is characterized Copyright © 2023, Modern Care Journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just in noncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly cited.