The effects of progressive relaxation exercises on the vital signs and fatigue in patients with liver transplant

The Effects of Progressive Relaxation Exercises on the Vital Signs and Fatigue in Patients with Liver Transplant Aim: This research was carried out the effect of progressive relaxation exercises to patients with liver transplantation on the vital signs and fatigue levels. Material and Methods: The research was conducted as a pre-test/post test randomized controlled trial model. 90 patients who had undergone liver transplantation (experimental group = 45, control group = 45) hospitalized in the liver transplant wards of a university hospital between March 2020 and October 2020 were included in the study. The Patient Information Form was used to record the demographic characteristics of the patients, the Vital Signs Inspection Form to record the characteristics of the vital signs and the Fatigue Severity Scale to determine the fatigue levels. Patients in the experimental group were given 25-30 minutes of progressive relaxation exercises regularly every day for four weeks with voice recordings sent to their phones. The vital signs and levels of fatigue severity of the patients in the experimental group were determined before the progressive relaxation exercises. Vital signs were observed immediately after progressive relaxation exercises and at the end of the second week. At the end of the fourth week, vital signs and levels of fatigue severity were measured. No intervention was applied to the patients in the control group, and vital signs and levels of fatigue severity were measured simultaneously with the experimental group. In evaluating the data; descriptive statistics, X-Square, Mann-Whitney U, Friedman and Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used. Results: After liver transplantation, no significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test vital signs and the mean scores of the fatigue severity of the patients in the control group, while the mean scores of the patients in the experimental group were low in pulse and respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure values, and fatigue severity levels (p<0.05). It was observed that the SpO2 level increased, and the difference was statistically significant (p <0.05). Conclusion: Progressive relaxation exercises were found to be an effective nursing intervention in regulating the vital signs and reducing the severity of fatigue in patients with liver transplantation. Key Words: Liver Transplantation, Progressive Relaxation Exercises, Vital Signs, Fatigue