Effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise on anxiety among nursing students prior to critical care clinical training

INTRODUCTION: Intensive care units are considered stressful and emotionally risky situations by both professionals and patients and their families. The purpose was to assess the effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise on anxiety among nursing students in intensive care units prior to clinical training. METHOD: A randomized, controlled study design was used. The study composed of 80 nursing students from Arab American University. For 2 weeks, the experimental group’s 40 participants were taught progressive muscle relaxation exercises to help with anxiety control, whereas the control group’s 40 participants received no training. RESULTS: The results revealed that the experimental group was capable of reducing the anxiety (p < 0.05). Also, the experimental group had les anxiety (1.15 ± SD = 0.43) compared with the control group (2.83 ± SD = 0.40). CONCLUSION: The current study’s findings confirmed the effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise (PMRE) on anxiety reduction in intensive care units during clinical training among nursing students.