Kim, S. D., & Kim, H. S. (2005). Effects of a relaxation breathing exercise on fatigue in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 14, 51–55.
The aim of the relaxation breathing exercise (RBE) intervention was to improve the function of immune cells.
Before the intervention, a 30-minute recorded audiotape of RBE was given to the patients. RBE consisted of a three-step sequence, which combined relaxation breath and yoga-like positioning exercises:
The RBE intervention was provided to patients by one of the researchers at 4:00 pm every day for six weeks in the hospital. RBE was to be practiced in a supine position on a bed. For the control group, routine care (granulocyte-colony stimulating factor [G-CSF] injection and aseptic care) were given. Fatigue was measured at baseline and as posttest data in both groups.
Patients were recruited from an inpatient hematopoietic stem cell transplant unit (single site).
Patients were undergoing the active treatment phase of care.
The study was a randomized, pre-/posttest control group clinical trial:
Revised Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS)
The RBE intervention resulted in a significant decline in mean fatigue scores for the RBE group (mean change = –3.2) compared to the control group (mean change = +0.3) (p = 0.0001). The RBE group had greater decreases in the behavioral/severity, affective meaning, sensory, and cognitive mood dimension compared to the control group. In pretest scores, fatigue scores were highest in the sensory dimension, followed by cognitive/mood and behavioral/severity in the RBE group. Sensory dimension was also the highest in the control group. At pretest, there were no significant differences in fatigue scores between groups.