Effects of progressive muscle relaxation training on anxiety, depression and quality of life of breast cancer patients during perioperative period

Abstract

Objective To explore the effects of progressive muscle relaxation training (PMRT) on depression, anxiety and quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer patients during perioperative period, so as to provide references for improving nursing quality. Methods A total of 400 breast cancer patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University and Xi'an No.5 Hospital were selected as the research object by convenience sampling method from January 2015 to June 2016. They were divided into the experimental group (n=200, routine nursing + PMRT for five weeks) and the control group (n=200, routine nursing) . The QOL, depression and anxiety of patients were evaluated by the functional assessment of cancer therapy-breast (FACT-B) , self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) , self-rating depression scale (SDS) on the first day after admission and at the fifth week after intervention. Results There was no statistically significant difference in the total score and scores of all dimensions of QOL, the score of anxiety and depression between two groups before intervention (P>0.05) . After PMRT for five weeks, the total score of QOL was (107.68±5.48) in the experimental group which was higher than that (97.14±9.98) in the control group with a significant difference (t=13.017, P<0.01) . Moreover, the scores of anxiety and depression [ (38.45±4.91) , (38.32±4.61) ] in the experimental group were lower than those [ (48.24±7.01) , (50.24±4.24) ] in the control group with significant differences (t=36.629, 18.585; P<0.01) . Conclusions The PMRT can effectively improve the QOL of breast cancer patients during perioperative period, relieve the unhealthy mental state on anxiety, depression and so on. The PMRT should be widely applied in rehabilitation nursing in breast cancer patients after operation. Key words: Breast neoplasms; Perioperative nursing; Quality of life; Anxiety; Depression; Progressive muscle relaxation training