Effectiveness of progressive muscle relaxation technique on anxiety caused by Covid‐19 in pregnant women: A randomized clinical trial

AIM: To determine the effectiveness of the progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) technique on anxiety caused by Covid‐19 in pregnant women under the auspices of comprehensive health service centers in the nineteenth district of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. METHOD: This study is a randomized clinical trial. A total of 126 pregnant women were randomly allocated to the intervention group (N = 63) and control group (N = 63). All participants completed demographic questionnaires and the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale electronically. The intervention was held in six sessions through Sky Room (three times a week). It consisted of training and practicing the PMR. The intervention group was re‐evaluated with the related questionnaires immediately after the intervention and 2 weeks later, and the control group 2 and 4 weeks after the baseline. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between the control and intervention groups at the baseline (P = .05). Nevertheless, analysis of variance test results showed that the difference between the intervention and control groups was found to be significantly different statistically; (22.92 ± 6.07) for intervention versus (28.13 ± 6.93) for control, with the second follow up (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: Progressive muscle relaxation is used as a useful intervention to reduce anxiety in pregnant women during coronavirus pandemics educated and recommended with more emphasis and sensitivity in pregnancy care by healthcare providers.