Performance of 10-Minutes of Diaphragmatic Breathing Relaxation Training in Relieving in Outpatients and Accompanied Relatives

Chen, Yu-Fen

Monday, 30 July 2012: 2:15 PM

Yu-Fen Chen, RN
Nursing Department, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
Xuan-Yi Huang, RN, BSN, MSc, DNSc
School of Nursing and Nursing Department, China Medical University and Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
Ching-Fane Chen, RN
Nursing Department, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, Taichung, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: practice the DBR training could be developed as a part of education and training for both patients and health care professionals.

Learning Objective 2: understand the guidance for delivering quality care for people to reduce their anxiety level from this study.

Purpose: We aimed to examine the performance of a 10-minutes abdominal breathing or diaphragmatic breathing relaxation (DBR) training in relieving anxiety and its relation to visual analogue scale (VAS).

Methods: Fifty subjects who had a middle degree of anxiety, i.e., Chinese Beck Anxiety Inventory (CBAI)³a16, were recruited in this study. The subjects were randomly assigned in experimental and control group. All subjects were monitored by biofeedback device for 20 minutes. The procedures included a 5 minutes pre-intervened, 10 minutes intervened, and 5 minutes post-intervened biofeedback monitoring. The experimental group was intervened with a 10-minutes DBR training while the control group was instructed to relax for 10 minutes. The 5 minutes physiological indicators included heart rate, peripheral temperature, skin conductivity, breathing rates and heart rate variability (HRV). Also, all research subjects were asked to fill in the VAS and Chinese State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI Y-1) before and after the 20 minutes period. T-tests and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data.

Results: The means of VAS (p<0.001) and STAI Y-1 (p=0.015) were significantly lower in experimental group after intervention compared to the control group. There were no significant differences in heart rate, peripheral temperature, skin conductivity, breathing rates and heart rate variability between the experimental and control group. However, a raise in low-frequency power (LF) and a reduction in high-frequency power (HF) were noted in Biofeedback indicators

Conclusion: DBR has several advantages over other non-drug therapies for anxiety problems. For examples, (1) safe and does not require much space to perform, (2) easy to learn, and can be practiced at any time. This study provides guidance for delivering quality care for people to reduce their anxiety level.

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