PURPOSE: To determine the impact of applied progressive muscle relaxation training on health related quality of life among prostate cancer patients.
METHOD: A quasi-experimental study was conducted at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) over six months. Patients from UMMC received the intervention and patients from UKMMC as a comparison group. The general health related quality of life was measured using Short Form-36 (SF-36).
RESULTS: A total of 77 patients from the intervention group and 78 patients from the comparison group participated in the study. At the end of the study, only 90.9% in intervention group and 87.2% in comparison group completed the study. There were significant differences between intervention and comparison groups for mental component summary (MCS) (p=0.032) and overall health related quality of life (p=0.042) scores. However, there was no significant difference between groups for physical component summary (PCS) (p=0.965).
CONCLUSION: The improvement in MCS and overall QOL showed the potential of APMRT in the management of prostate cancer patients. Future studies should be carried out over a longer duration to provide stronger evidence for the introduction of relaxation therapy among prostate cancer patients as a coping strategy to improve their QOL.
Written by:
Isa MR, Moy FM, Razack AH, Zainuddin ZM, Zainal NZ. Are you the author?
Population Health & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sungai Buloh Campus, Jalan Hospital, 47000 Sungai Buloh, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; Julius Centre University of Malaya, Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Reference: Prev Med. 2013 Feb 27. pii: S0091-7435(13)00056-X.
doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.02.011
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23454597
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