The effects of progressive relaxation exercises applied to epilepsy patients on depression, sleep and quality of life

Although depression and sleep problems are common in epilepsy patients, their quality of life is very low when compared with the general population. Progressive relaxation exercises have a large number of benefits such as providing symptom control, increasing quality of sleep and improving quality of life. This study was conducted to find out the effects of progressive relaxation exercises applied to epilepsy patients on level of depression, sleep and quality of life. The study was conducted as a randomized controlled interventional study with control group and pre-test and post-test application. While the population of the study consisted of patients diagnosed with epilepsy who referred to Neurology Polyclinic and Clinic of Fırat University Hospital between November 2021 and July 15, 2022; the sample consisted of 70 epilepsy patients, 35 in the intervention group and 35 in the control group, who were randomly selected from the identified population, who agreed to participate in the study and who met the study criteria. The patients in the intervention group were asked to perform a total of 12 sessions of progressive muscle relaxation exercises, 3 days a week for a total of 4 weeks. No interventions were made on the patients in the control group during the study. 'Personal Information Form', 'Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)', "Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)", and "Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE -31)" were used to collect data. Percentage, median values, standard deviation, arithmetic mean, Chi-square test, Pearson Chi-square test, Fisher Friedman Holtan Exact Test, dependent groups t test, independent groups t test, Wilcoxon test, Mann Whitney U test and regression analysis were used in data assessment. In the study, it was found that the mean BDI and PSQI total scores and factor scores of the patients in the intervention group decreased statistically significantly after the intervention when compared with the control group (p<0.05). In addition, while a significant difference was found between mean QOILE-31 total scores and factor scores of the patients in the intervention and control group after the intervention (p<0.05), mean scores of the intervention group were found to be significantly higher than those of the control group (p<0.05). As a result, it was found that progressive relaxation exercises decreased depression level and increased quality of sleep and quality of life in epilepsy patients. It can be recommended to use progressive relaxation exercises as a complementary nursing intervention in the treatment of epilepsy.