The effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise on stress, anxiety and depression levels in adolescents

The study was conducted as a non-randomized controlled study to determine the effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise on stress, anxiety and depression levels in adolescents. The population of the study was consisted of 12th grade students studying in two high schools in Yalova city. A total of 88 students, 31 in the intervention group and 57 in the control group, were included in the study. "Personal Information Form" and "Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-42)" were used to collect the data. Online progressive muscle relaxation exercise was applied to the intervention group during eight weeks. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, parental education level and employment status, family income, living with the family, number of siblings, and academic achievement (p>0,05). There was a statistically significant difference (p<0,001) between the intervention and control groups in terms of stress, anxiety and depression pre-test mean scores. In the post-test, the stress mean scores of the intervention group were significantly lower than the control group (p=0.018); there was no change in the mean scores of anxiety and depression (p>0,05). There was a statistically significant difference in the post-test stress (p<0.001), anxiety (p<0.001) and depression (p = 0.002) mean scores of the adolescents in the intervention group according to the corrected DASS-42 scale pre-test mean scores. In conclusion, muscle relaxation exercise reduced stress, anxiety and depression in adolescents. It is recommended to expand the use of progressive muscle relaxation exercise in adolescents, and to add it to the education program of adolescents preparing for the exam.