Objective: some recent evidences have been recently achieved on the beneficial effects of mindfulness based on stress reduction on stress reduction and perceived anxiety and thus improve mental disorders caused by stress. Because women-headed households are one of the groups in the society that need to be studied because of the progressive problems they are experiencing as one of the most affected sections of society, the present study attempted to assess the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction on improvement of the decreased perceived stress and symptoms of depression among this group. Methods: This quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest approach and following-up included 400 women aged 25 to 50 years female-headed households covered by Ilam City Relief Committee. The population was randomly divided into control and experimental groups and the preserved stress and depression situations were assessed using the Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory II respectively. Mindfulness-based stress reduction was implemented as an 8-week training program and all subjects were reassessed after intervention completion. Results: The baseline characteristics of study subjects in two groups were similar. The mean preserved stress and depression scores improved both significantly in the experiment group after intervention as well as within the follow-up time, however the pointed changes were not revealed in control group. Conclusion: Mindfulness-based approach to stress reduction had a positive effect on perceived stress and depression symptoms in female-headed households
