Relaxation technique could improve anxiety levels in cancer patients

The article “Cancer Patients and Anxiety: A Gender Perspective” published in the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” is part of a study that received first prize in the 16th edition of the National Nursing Prize of the Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla with the title “Progressive muscle relaxation technique in the care of anxiety and pain in the cancer patient” and in which 10 hospitals of the National Health System participated. This project was led by Dr. Paula Parás Bravo, collaborator of the IDIVAL nursing group, and corresponded to her doctoral thesis.

The project arises from the need to reduce the anxious symptoms that cancer patients suffer so frequently. The study was carried out on cancer patients and included an intervention group that was taught a relaxation technique and a control group. The data published in the study corresponds to that obtained through the control group consisting of 420 patients from the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital.

The results obtained indicate that there are gender differences with respect to anxious symptoms, this being higher in women.
The approach is complex but the results obtained from the intervention group carried out in 10 hospitals, demonstrated that through a relaxation technique we could improve anxiety levels, quality of life, pain and even the consumption of drugs by patients.

The results have been published in four international journals with an impact factor (Q1 and Q2) and support the need to carry out a comprehensive approach in the oncology patient that contributes to reducing their anxiety levels with easy-to-implant and low-cost techniques. 

Ref. Cancer Patients and Anxiety: A Gender Perspective. Paula Parás-Bravo, María Paz-Zulueta, Ester Boixadera-Planas, Víctor Fradejas-Sastre, Domingo Palacios-Ceña, César Fernández-de-las-Peñas, Cristina Alonso-Blanco. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Feb; 17(4): 1302. Published online 2020 Feb 18. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17041302 PMCID: PMC7175312