CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT05087433stressUpdated Oct 21, 2021

Perceived Stress and Anxiety Levels of Nurses

An interventional study of Progressive Relaxation Exercises in Stress and Anxiety, sponsored by Ayşe Aydınlı. Completed at 1 site in Turkey. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 55 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-10-21.

Sponsored by Ayşe Aydınlı · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 7 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Feb 2021, registered Sep 2021).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
64
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 55 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study was conducted to determine the effect of web-based progressive relaxation exercises applied to nurses working in a pandemic hospital on perceived stress and anxiety. In this randomized controlled clinical trial, nurses working in the pandemic hospital were randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups.

Read the detailed description

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) epidemic increases the stress and anxiety level of nurses due to many factors. This study was conducted to determine the effect of web-based progressive relaxation exercises applied to nurses working in a pandemic hospital on perceived stress and anxiety. In this randomized controlled clinical trial, nurses working in the pandemic hospital were randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. The Web-Based Relaxation Exercises Program was trained and implemented online for 4 weeks by a trainer for the intervention group.The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) were completed online by participants in both groups before and after the intervention

02

Conditions studied

  • Stress
  • Anxiety

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Anxiety
  • Pandemics
  • Nurse
  • Stress
03

In context

Anxiety Disorders

4,868 studies on the registry are indexed under Anxiety Disorders; 1,388 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 64 is below the median of 80 across 4,170 interventional studies indexed under Anxiety Disorders.

Browse Anxiety Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

Ayşe Aydınlı is the lead sponsor of 2 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 55 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Those between the ages of 18-55
  • Nurses working in the pandemic hospital

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Nurses who did not agree to participate in the study
  • Research Termination Criteria;
  • Nurses who begin to receive support from a psychiatrist,
  • Nurses who begin to use psychiatric medication,
  • Nurses who are COVID positive,
  • Moreover, the study was terminated with the nurses who wanted to leave the study.
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Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
64 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    İntervention Group

    Practicing Progressive Relaxation Exercises The training of the Zoom application progressive relaxation exercise for the nurses was done in two sessions for a total of 60 minutes. During the first interview, the definition, purpose, benefits, and application techniques of PRE were explained to the nurses in the intervention group. In the second session, the steps of progressive relaxation exercises were demonstrated by the trainer. The trainer performed the PRE exercise online with the nurses. Nurses were asked to perform the PRE application in accordance with the commands in the video recordings. In addition, a guide in which the steps of applying progressive relaxation exercises for each muscle group were written was given to the nurses. It was stated that they should do the application regularly for 25-30 minutes in the morning every day at home for a month.

    Other: Progressive Relaxation Exercises

  • No intervention
    Control Group

    No intervention was applied to the control group during the study. However, after the research was completed, the video of the application of the progressive relaxation exercises to the control group was shared on the WhatsApp group.

Interventions

  • OtherProgressive Relaxation Exercises

    The trainer performed the PRE exercise online with the nurses. The video recording of the progressive relaxation exercises was shared with the nurses participating in the study on WhatsApp groups. Nurses were asked to perform the PRE application in accordance with the commands in the video recordings. In addition, a guide in which the steps of applying progressive relaxation exercises for each muscle group were written was given to the nurses. It was stated that they should do the application regularly for 25-30 minutes in the morning every day at home for a month. The PRE application was reminded daily from the WhatsApp group for the nurses to apply regularly to the sessions and not to disrupt the sessions. Nurses shared the messages stating that they were doing the PRE application on a daily basis for four weeks on WhatsApp groups.

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Personal Information Form:

    Socio-demographic characteristics of nurses such as age, gender, educational status, working time in the profession, professional characteristics such as the unit they worked before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, working time and working style, how their family life was affected in the COVID-19 pandemic, and contains information on their greatest concern regarding the pandemic.

    Time frame: baseline

  2. The Perceived Stress Scale

    It is a five-point Likert-type scale and consists of 14 items. Participants rate each item on a scale ranging from "Never (0)" to "Very often (4)". Seven of the items with positive statements are scored in reverse. As the scores obtained from the scale increase, the perceived stress level of the person increases. PSS-14 scores range from 0 to 56, with 0-35 point range indicating normal stress level, 35-56 point range indicating that the individual is under stress.

    Time frame: four weeks

  3. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

    The 4-point Likert-type State Anxiety Inventory, consisting of 20 items in total, measures a person's anxiety at a certain time. According to the severity of the feelings, thoughts or behaviors expressed by the items in the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, it is required to choose one of the options "not at all," "a little," "a lot," and "totally". There are 10 (items 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19 and 20) reversed statements in the STAI. While scoring the scale, the reversed statements with a weight of 1 were converted to 4, and those with a weight of 4 were converted to 1. In direct statements, answers with a value of 4 indicate high anxiety. In reversed expressions, answers with a value of 1 indicate high anxiety, and a value of 4 indicates low anxiety. The last value obtained was accepted as the individual's anxiety score. It is reported that the level of anxiety is high for scores above 42 points.

    Time frame: four weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Suleyman Demirel University
    Merkez, Isparta 32200, Turkey
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Hersch RK, Cook RF, Deitz DK, Kaplan S, Hughes D, Friesen MA, Vezina M. Reducing nurses' stress: A randomized controlled trial of a web-based stress management program for nurses. Appl Nurs Res. 2016 Nov;32:18-25. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2016.04.003. Epub 2016 Apr 9. PubMed 27969025 ↗
  • Kackin O, Ciydem E, Aci OS, Kutlu FY. Experiences and psychosocial problems of nurses caring for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Turkey: A qualitative study. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2021 Mar;67(2):158-167. doi: 10.1177/0020764020942788. Epub 2020 Jul 16. PubMed 32674644 ↗
  • Labrague LJ, De Los Santos JAA. COVID-19 anxiety among front-line nurses: Predictive role of organisational support, personal resilience and social support. J Nurs Manag. 2020 Oct;28(7):1653-1661. doi: 10.1111/jonm.13121. Epub 2020 Aug 21. PubMed 32770780 ↗
  • Hacimusalar Y, Kahve AC, Yasar AB, Aydin MS. Anxiety and hopelessness levels in COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative study of healthcare professionals and other community sample in Turkey. J Psychiatr Res. 2020 Oct;129:181-188. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.07.024. Epub 2020 Jul 21. PubMed 32758711 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 21, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05087433
Lead sponsor
Ayşe Aydınlı
Responsible party
Ayşe Aydınlı (Research Asistant, RN, MsN, PhD, Suleyman Demirel University) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Oct 21, 2021
Start date
Feb 1, 2021
Primary completion
Feb 1, 2021
Completion
Mar 13, 2021
Last update
Oct 21, 2021

Study contacts

Yurdagül Günaydın, Assist.Prof
study director · Yozgat Bozok University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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