Effect of Progressive Relaxation Exercise on Physiological Parameters, Pain, Anxiety in Colorectal Cancer Surgery

This research was carried out as an pre-test/post-test control group experimental design study in order to determine the effect of progressive relaxation exercises on the level of vital sign, pain and anxiety underwent who laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer in patients. This research data was collected between March 2018 and May 2019. The research was carried out with 63 patients (experiment group= 31, control group= 32) who underwent elective laparoscopic colorectal surgery in a general surgery clinic of a university hospital in Istanbul and in accordance with the research criteria. Patients in the experiment group were taught breathing exercises in the preoperative period and on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd day after surgery then, progressive relaxation exercise that lasted 15 minutes was applied to the group. Pain (Short McGill Pain Scale) and anxiety (STAI-S Scale) levels of both groups were evaluated in the preoperative and postoperative period. The patient’s vital signs, oxygen saturation and serum cortisol level parameters were measured in the same time interval before and after the relaxation exercise. Significance was evaluated at p <0.05 and p<0,001 levels in the analysis of the data. Prior to the study, the consent of the institution and ethics committee, written and verbal patient consent were obtained.