The effect of yoga on subjective well-being level and sleep quality in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia

This study was conducted as a quasi-experimental model with pretest-posttest control group in order to determine the effects of yoga on subjective well-being and sleep quality levels of patients with schizophrenia. The population of the study consist of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia for who are visited to the psychiatry outpatient clinics of three community mental health centers located in Gaziantep. The sample study group consisted of total of 74 patients experimental group with 35 patients and control group with 39 patients. The data is collected via the 'Personal Information Form', the 'Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS)' and the 'Pıttsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)'. Yoga is applied as 28 group training session four times per week. In the pre-yoga evaluation, it is observed that the patients have sleeping problems and have low subjective well-being levels on both the experimental and the control groups. In the pre-test, wthe results of analysis based on pre-test shows that there is no significant difference in the mean scores of the patients in the experimental group and the control group in terms of WEMWBS and PSQI (p>0.05). Based on the post-test result; it is determined that the mean scores of the WEMWBS of the patients on the experimental group significantly increased and the mean scores of the PSQI were significantly decreased compared to the patients in the control group (p<0.05). The comparisons within the groups based on pre-test determines that the WEMWBS avarage of the post-test scores of the patients in the experimental group is increased significantly and the PSQI avarage of the scores is significantly decreased (p<0.05). The pre and post test results comparison of control group shows that there is no significant change in the mean scores of the WEMWBS and PSQI (p>0.05). As a result of this research, it was determined that yoga practices were effective in increasing subjective well-being and sleep quality levels in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. For this reason, it is recommended that yoga practice be applied as an complement treatment by psychiatric nurses and other mental health professionals during the treatment process of schizophrenia patients.