The effect of psychoeducation regarding relaxation breathing, in stress reduction in a sample of nurses in a Greek hospital

Abstract

Introduction

Stress is one of the biggest problems leading a large portion of people to seek medical or psychotherapeutic management, while a large portion of hospital staff report high levels of work-related stress.

Objectives

The purpose of this intervention was to implement a psychoeducation seminar on stress management by implementing diaphragmatic breathing exercises and to detect the reduction of its levels in nursing staff.

Methods

The study took place at the General Hospital of Nikaia. Fifty employees, 38 women, aged 20-60 (M=37.4±10.5) participated in a two-hour group psychoeducation workshop, concerning psychoeducation on stress and application in diaphragmatic breathing exercises. The measurement of the success of the intervention was performed using a proportional stress assessment scale before and after the intervention. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS26.

Results

Stress levels before the intervention ranged from 0 to 10 (M=5.7±5.7) while after the intervention ranged from 0 to 7 (M=2.3±2.04). Age did not appear to play a role in stress reduction, but was found to be positively and significantly associated with pre-existing stress in employees (r=0.423 p=0.002). On the contrary, gender was found to be related both to the pre-existence of stress, with women reporting the highest levels (t=-3.534 p=0.001), and to the reduction of stress after the intervention (t=-2,534 p=0.001).

Conclusions

The above findings indicate the importance of implementing group psychoeducation programs to reduce stress at the organizational level, a very important result considering the cumulative effect that the recent existence of covid-19 has had on nursing staff.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.