A Home-based Intervention to Promote Mindful Breathing Awareness Through Pursed-lip Breathing Training for COPD Patients

The Mindful Breathing Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Benzo will complete a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the mindful breathing module. This rigorous study will evaluate home-based PR system compared to the home-based PR system plus mindful breathing module for its effects on breathlessness and emotions. The investigators hypothesize that the intervention will decrease breathlessness while increasing emotional perception, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness.

A total of 50 adults diagnosed with COPD will be enrolled in this study. Half of the subjects will be randomized to receive home-based pulmonary rehabilitation with the mindful breathing module (intervention group) and half will receive home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (control group). Each subject will be consented and trained and then participate in either the intervention or control group. Both groups entail one week of baseline and twelve weeks of home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (health coaching plus activity monitoring). The intervention group will also receive the mindful breathing module during the twelve weeks of home-based pulmonary rehabilitation. The Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire (CRQ) will be administered at baseline, week 12 (after the intervention) and week 24 as the investigators will follow the patients for 3 months after the intervention to document the sustainability of the effects (behavior change).