The effect of sleep hygiene education and relaxation exercises on sleep quality in postmenopause women

Aim: The present study was conducted using a true experimental model with pretest and posttest control group to determine the effect of progressive relaxation exercise and the sleep hygiene training given to women in postmenopausal period on sleep quality. Material and Method: Population of the study is created by the women in postmenopausal period who naturally went through menopause, and having insomnia and registered to Kayapinar 10 Family Health Centre in Diyarbakir town centre. Sample size is a total of 161 menopausal women complying with the criteria to be taken into research and 81 of them were included in the experimental group while 80 were included in the control group. Experimental and control groups were applied WHIIRS and personal info form on the first house call. On the first house call, sleep hygiene training and training manual, on the second house call, PGE training and CD were given to the experimental group. One day a week, PGE training was repeated and PGE was made 8 weeks in total. WHIIRS was applied to the experimental and control group after 4 and 12 weeks after the pre-test. Data were collected between 15 June and 15 October 2015 and evaluated by using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, chi-square test, Mauchly's test, McNemar X2 test, and Cronbach Alpha analysis. Results: WHIIRS point average that experimental group women got in compliance with the control group was 14.03±3.4 at pre-test, was 9.69±3.09 at mid-test and it was 7.09±3.4 post-test. Thus it has been observed that the differences among the points gotten from pre-test, mid-test and post-test are statistically important (p<0.001). It has been determined that the difference between post-test insomnia ratio in experimental and control group is statistically important; insomnia rate is lower in experimental group (p<0.001). Conclusion: Progressive relaxation exercise and the sleep hygiene training for women in postmenopausal period increased the sleep quality. Keywords: Nursing, Postmenopause, Progresive Relaxation Exercise, Sleep Hygiene, Sleep Quality, Women's Health Initiative Insomnia Rating Scale