The effect of progressive relaxation exercise on fatigue level of intensive care nurses: A randomised controlled trial

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise on the fatigue level of intensive care nurses. Methods: In this clinical trial, the participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (n n = 38) and control (n n = 37) groups after obtaining necessary approvals. The nurses in the intervention group applied progressive muscle relaxation every day for 4 weeks, with each session lasting for 15 min. None of the participants in the control group were subjected to any intervention. Data were collected using a questionnaire and the fatigue severity scale (FSS) (the lower the total score, the less the fatigue). The questionnaires were applied at the baseline, and the FSS was applied at the baseline and the end of the first, second, third, and fourth weeks. Results: While the FSS mean scores of the intervention and control groups at baseline were 4.84 +/- 1.01 and 5.23 +/- 0.96, respectively (p = 0.086), the FSS mean score of the intervention group (3.13 +/- 1.58) was significantly lower than the score of the control group (4.12 +/- 1.70) at the fourth week (p = 0.011). Also in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd weeks of the study, the FSS scores of the nurses in intervention group decreased statistically significantly compared to that of the nurses in the control group. Conclusions: This study indicated that a 4-week progressive muscle relaxation intervention alleviated fatigue in intensive care nurses. Clinical Trial registration number: NCT05435664 (Clinicaltrials.gov). (c) 2024 Australian College of Critical Care Nurses Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.