Effectiveness of Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) on Sleep Quality of Persons with Mental Health Needs: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Sleep is one of the basic daily living activities that are important for people with physical, mental, social and intellectual needs to be healthy. It is also the most basic human needs that maintain the body’s energy and helps regulate the process. Sleep problems are prominent in people with mental illness, compared to the general population up to 80% which impact physical and mental health, as well as quality of life. However, Progressive Muscle Relaxation plays an important role in improving the sleeping pattern of persons with mental health needs. Aim: The aim of the study to evaluate the effectiveness of Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) on sleep quality among the persons with mental health needs. Methods: The research used a quantitative, quasi-experiment study design with pre-and post-test without control group. A total 14 participants were purposively selected and divided into intervention group based on inclusion criteria such as persons with mental health needs of both male and female having sleep disturbance, verbally communicable and able to follow instructions. The sleep disturbance level was identified by using Adopted Bengali Version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (APSQI) questionnaire in face-to-face interview and implemented intervention of the Jacobson Muscle Relaxation Technique (JPMR). Furthermore, SPSS version 25 had been employed for the analysis of datasets. Results: During pre-test the mean global score of PSQI was 13.71. During post-test with PMR the mean global score of PSQI significantly reduced, that was 7.86. All the pre-test and post-test score of PSQI components (sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbances and daytime dysfunction) show the statistically significant difference (p value<0.05) except sleep medications. During pre test, there was no normal sleep disturbance of participants but after post-test the normal sleep disturbance level showed among 3 participants and severe sleep disturbance level among participants fall 6 to 0 during post-test. Socio-demographic factor namely educational status showed significant association with PSQI global score (p value= 0.015) Conclusion: The results showed that implementation of PMR techniques are highly effective for improving sleep quality among the persons with mental health needs. This finding provides valuable insights for improving the sleep quality in dealing with related study subjects. Key word: Mental Health, Sleep, Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) and Occupational therapy