Effectiveness of Relaxation Breathing Exercise on fatigue in gynecological cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Mulhaeriah, Yati Afiyanti, Engkus Kusdinar Achmad and 1 others
PMID 31406844WHAT IT FOUND
In patients with gynaecological cancer undergoing chemotherapy, doing relaxation breathing 30 minutes four times daily for 7 days reduced fatigue more than doing it twice daily.
Both groups improved, and nurses can teach this hospital and home routine.
Key findings
01Relaxation breathing for 30 minutes four times daily for 7 days reduced fatigue more than 30 minutes twice daily.
02Both groups showed a significant decrease in fatigue after the 7th day, with mean reductions of 0.36 and 0.15 score per day.
03The four times group had the largest decrease in behaviour domain scores, and the twice group had the largest decrease in sensory domain scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 21 participants were analysed in each group. The intervention lasted 7 days, so longer-term effects were not tested. There was no untreated control group; both groups received relaxation breathing at different frequencies. Fatigue was self-reported with the Piper Fatigue Scale, and home completion was difficult to control. Home relaxation breathing could not be directly observed because patients went home after chemotherapy. The study was done in one cancer hospital in Indonesia. Dropouts and incomplete questionnaires removed six participants from the allocated sample.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the International Fellowship Program, Ford Foundation, USA.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that relaxation breathing is proven better than usual care or that four times daily is necessary for all patients. The study compared four times daily with twice daily, not with no relaxation breathing, and only 21 participants were analysed in each group over 7 days.