Using guided imagery in the emergency department

Effects of Guided imagery on Stress and Anxiety of Women Receiving in Vitro Fertilization

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to identify effects of guided imagery on stress including cognitive, affective, marital and social, and anxiety among women receiving in vitro fertilization (IVF).

METHODS

Data were collected between April, 21 and June, 17, 2008. The participants in this study were 57 women (26 for the experimental group, 31 for the control group) receiving IVF for primary or secondary infertility in one of the outpatient infertility centers in Seoul. The guided imagery (Suk, 2001) was provided through audio CD to the experimental group by themselves 8 minutes per day for 2 weeks. Data were analyzed by SPSS 12.0 windows program.

RESULTS

After guided imagery, the experimental group showed significantly lower affective stress and total stress scores. Anxiety scores increased significantly in the control group, but not in the experimental group after treatment.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that guided imagery is an effective nursing intervention for reducing stress especially affective stress and anxiety among infertile women receiving IVF in outpatient infertility center.

Relaxation training as complementary therapy for mild hypertension control and the implications of evidence-based medicine

Relaxation therapy for the treatment of hypertension presented a number of challenges, in terms of conducting and using research as well as gaining the wider acceptance of this complementary therapy in common practice in Hong Kong. Two issues were central to the current implementation of complementary therapies: the evidence-based practice movement and the management of risk during the implementation of new therapies. A major concern was how to maximize the chance of inclusion of research on complementary therapies in evidence-based practice systematic reviews. This was thought to be achievable by making the data amenable to meta-analysis when small samples may be unavoidable. The empirical work examined the effects of three relaxation therapies for the reduction of high blood pressure in nine Chinese subjects. Subjects were randomly assigned to three groups: (a) progressive muscle relaxation, (b) stretch release relaxation and (c) cognitive imagery relaxation. Systolic, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were assessed in a baseline session, the 8th post-treatment session, and a 30-days follow-up session. Datawere analyzed using ANOVA and Paired sample t-test. One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests for the normal distribution were performed among the three groups. The results verified that the normality assumption for the data had not been violated. Results revealed that in the context of the study all relaxation therapies can reduce blood pressure in Chinese subjects, but stretch release relaxation and progressive muscle relaxation therapies appeared to be more effective in lowering blood pressure compared to cognitive imagery relaxation. These data are in a form available for meta-analysis at a later date. The study also shows a degree of clinical significance and validation with respect to a Hong Kong population. It demonstrates ways in which the inclusion of research on complementary therapies in systematic reviews can be maximized.