The Effectiveness of Relaxation Training on General Health and Sleep Quality of Pregnant Women in the Last Trimester of Pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction: Pregnancy is an event that changes many views of pregnant woman and it has effect on health, happiness and social roles and sometimes causes psychological problems. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of relaxation training on general health and quality of sleep in pregnant women in the last trimester of pregnancy.   Methods: The research design of current study was quasi-experimental and pretest-posttest with control group. A sample size of 32 patients between nulliparous pregnant women who were referred to health care centers in Yazd were selected in the available sampling and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups (Each 16 people). After completing the pre-test, the experimental group was tested for relaxation exercises in seven sessions. Measuring instruments were General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1978), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Boyce et al., 1989). Data using analysis of co-variance test with SPSS software were analyzed. Results: Results showed that the mean score of the experimental group on general health and quality of sleep was significantly increased compared to control group. That means relaxation training had effect for increasing general health and quality of sleep in pregnant women. Conclusion: The results confirmed the importance and effectiveness of relaxation training for increasing general health and improving sleep quality in pregnant women

Keywords

• Relaxation
• General Health
• Quality of sleep
• Pregnancy