The effects of progressive relaxation exercises on the quality of life and fatique in copd patients

Aim: The study was planned to investigate the effects of progressive relaxation exercises during hospitalization in COPD patients on posthospitalization quality of life and fatigue. Method: In our semi-experimental study, we included 60 hospitalized patients who were diagnosed by COPD between 15.06.2018-25.01.2019 and used pre and post tests. Before hospitalization we applied ''Patient Introduction Form'', ''COPD and Asthma Fatigue Scale'' and ''SF-36 Quality of Life Scale''forms to the patients. The intervention group was received training with progressive relaxation exercises CD one day before discharge. Same forms were applied one month after discharge. The same forms were filled in the control group without any training. We used percentage distribution, t test in independent groups, Mann Whitney U test, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks, Kruskal Wallis test. We used Spearman Correlation analysisto determine the relation between the scales. Results: 50% of the intervention groupwere between 47-67 years of age, 90% were male, 83.3% were married, 76.7% were not formally educated after primary school. 53.3% of the control group were between 67-87 years of age, 70% were male, 90% were married, 96.7% were not formally educated after primary school. Mean scores of intervention group on fatigue scale were as such before and after the informative material respectively;77.8610.16 ve 43.099.98; and control group were as such respectively; 75.0713.23 ve 78.2514.20. Mean scores of intervention group on Quality of Life scale were as such before and after the informative material respectively; 26.989.82 and 78.2211.47 and control group were as such respectively; 32.6312.78 and 31.7313.22. We determined statistically significant differences in the intervention group between the scores of Fatigue Scale and Quality of Life scale before and after the training (p<0.05) while no statistically significant difference was found between scoresin control group (p>0.05). Conclusion: Progressive relaxation exercises were found to be effective on fatigue and quality of life.