The effect of relaxation exercises on burden, burnout, and anxiety levels in palliative caregivers

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of relaxation exercises on burden, burnout, and anxiety levels in palliative caregivers. DESIGN AND METHODS The single-group pretest-posttest design was used. The sample of the study consisted of 60 caregivers. Relaxation exercises were administered to caregivers 2 times a week for 4 weeks and 8 times. Burden, burnout, and anxiety levels were evaluated on the preinterventions and postinterventions. FINDINGS The mean age of the caregivers was 43.82 ± 10.19 years. The majority of the palliative patients were diagnosed with dementia (58.3%), the duration of diagnosis was between 1 and 5 years (70.0%). It was determined that relaxation exercises reduced to caregivers' burden, burnout, and state anxiety levels (p < 0.01). PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS The study concluded that relaxation exercises had positive effect on caregivers' burden, burnout, anxiety levels.