A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Applied Relaxation Training on Reducing Anxiety and Perceived Stress in Pregnant Women

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of applied relaxation training on reducing anxiety and perceived stress among pregnant women. A randomized controlled trial with a prospective pretest-posttest experimental design was used. One hundred ten primigravid women (mean age = 23.8 yea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of midwifery & women's health 2005-07, Vol.50 (4), p.e36-e40
Main Authors: Bastani, Farideh, Hidarnia, Alireza, Kazemnejad, Anoshirvan, Vafaei, Maryam, Kashanian, Maryam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
anxiety
Anxiety - therapy
Female
Humans
Nursing
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications - therapy
Prenatal Care - methods
Prospective Studies
relaxation
Relaxation Therapy
Socioeconomic Factors
stress
Stress, Psychological - therapy
Treatment Outcome
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of applied relaxation training on reducing anxiety and perceived stress among pregnant women. A randomized controlled trial with a prospective pretest-posttest experimental design was used. One hundred ten primigravid women (mean age = 23.8 years) in their second trimester (mean of gestational age = 17.8 weeks) were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received routine prenatal care with applied relaxation training, and the control group received only routine prenatal care. State/trait anxiety was measured with the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and perceived stress was measured with the Cohen Perceived Stress Scale. There were significant reductions in state/trait anxiety and perceived stress for the experimental group compared with the control group after the intervention. The findings suggest beneficial effects of relaxation on reducing anxiety and perceived stress in pregnant women. Teaching relaxation techniques could serve as a resource for improving maternal psychological health.
ISSN:1526-9523
1542-2011
DOI:10.1016/j.jmwh.2004.11.008