Korean J Child Health Nurs.  2000 Feb;6(1):60-68.

The Effect of Muscle Relaxation Therapy on Nausea, Vomiting and Anxiety of Children with Chemotherapy

• Jung KH

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of progressive muscle relaxation therapy on nausea, vomiting and anxiety experienced by children who were histologically diagnosed as malignancy and have received cancer chemotherapy. Twenty subjects with 10 in experimental group and 10 in control group, between the age of 7 to 12 years participated in this study. All subjects were admitted for inpatients chemotherapy at the S hospital between April to August 1998. The methods used for interventional muscle relaxation were both the 16 items of the progressive muscle relaxation therapy developed by Jacobson and the 4 items of the muscle relaxation therapy by Wolpe. The method for assessing nausea, vomiting was the Index of Nausea and Vomiting by Rhodes et al and that for anxiety was State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children by Spielberger. The data was analysed by repeated measures ANOVA and Scheffe test using SAS program. The results were as follows : 1. On measurement of nausea, vomiting, in the experimental group, the mean values of the second and the third measurements showed tendency to slightly decrease compared with the first measurement, but there was no statistically significance. And in the control group, there were no significant differences among first measurement, second measurement and third measurement. Also there was no significant difference in the mean values assessing nausea, vomiting between experimental and control group (F=1.33, p=0.2645). 2. The results assessing state anxiety showed, in the experimental group, progressive decrease in mean values at each measurement, while the control group showed no significant differences between the mean values of each measurement. Also there was statistically significant difference in state anxiety measurements between experimental and control group(F=4.36, p=0.05). In conclusion, muscle relaxation therapy for school-aged children with chemotherapy could not be effective to decrease nausea, vomiting, but it could be effective to decrease anxiety.

MeSH Terms

Anxiety*
Child*
Drug Therapy*
Humans
Inpatients
Muscle Relaxation*
Nausea*
Vomiting*
Child Health