Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) in Stress Management Among Physiotherapy Students

September 25, 2023 updated by: Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences

The Effect of Virtual Reality (VR) and Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) in Stress Management Among Physiotherapy Students

The objective of this clinical trial is to observe the effect of Virtual Reality (VR) and Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) in stressed individuals.

Procedure:

Students will be invited verbally and procedure will be explained to them. 20 students will be recruited randomly into control and experimental group. Stress will be predicted using multiple questionnaires. Pss is given before and after the intervention. The students in control group will be given 10 mins session of PMR for 3 consecutive days and in intervention group will be given 10 mins session of PMR followed by 8 mins session of VR for 3 consecutive days in which specific landscapes i.e mountains, forests, nightskies and beaches.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Introduction:

As stress appears to be a natural human response to difficult situations prompting us to address challenges and threats in our lives, prolonged stress may cause the fight or flight response to over-ride body's normal physiology and produce multiple psychological and physiological symptoms resulting in various negative health conditions such as cardiovascular disorders, GIT disturbances, hypertension etc. Moreover, a global survey of adolescents in 72 countries found 66% of students reported feeling stressed about academics and 37% of students felt anxiety relating to schoolwork. Many stress reduction interventions such as Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR), mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, and guided imagery have been shown to reduce stress levels among individuals and are being used as traditional relaxation interventions.

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) originally known as Jacobson Muscle Relaxation Technique, was developed by Edmund Jacobson in the 1934. It is an actively engaging technique guiding the patients to consciously contract muscles to create tension and release it progressively. This is repeated until patients acquire complete relaxation. Many studies on PMR have proven it to be beneficial in decreasing stress and anxiety levels in many adults as well as children worldwide.

With emerging technology, innovative ideas, such as the use of VR (Virtual Reality) for stress management, have also been considered and studied. According to Cruz-Neira (1993), Virtual reality refers to immersive, interactive, multisensory, viewer-centered, 3D computer generated environments and the combination of technologies required building environments. In the healthcare sector, VR has been proved beneficial for balance and cognition training in cerebral palsy and stroke, and also has been observed to mitigate acute and chronic pain. It can provide rehabilitation, motivation and entertainment all at once. Further studies on its immersive effect suggest it to be helpful in stress management. Natural environments (forests, beaches, mountains etc ) viewed through VR, have shown to help individuals reduce their stress levels, anxiety disorders, and phobias. However, there is little research on individual preferences of different VR landscapes.

In Asia, research relevant to VR has been shown to have a positive effect on stress management in individuals with high stress and mood disorders. Effect of forest and water landscapes on stress management has also been discussed earlier. However, area for more research still remains.

In Pakistan, multiple researches have been conducted on the use of VR in health care and as a rehabilitative intervention for diseases such as stroke, parkinsons, cerebral palsy and amblyopia, but very limited evidence is available on the effect of VR on stress management. No such research has been conducted in this region or in our institution prior to our study.

A study conducted in India showed that the PSS score decreased from mean 22.2 to 16.5 while another study conducted in India indicated that PMR and talk therapy in college students, reduced percieved stress from PSS score of 32.30 to 23.03.

The purpose of our research is to investigate the effect of VR in stress management, the individual preferences of landscapes and its comparison with traditional relaxation technique such as Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). This will help health-care workers improve stress management in a technology driven community.

Statistical analysis:

data will be entered and analyzed using SPSS 25. Numerical data like age, PSS score will be presented in the form of mean ± S.D whereas qualitative data like gender, Pre/Post intervention stress etc. will be presented in the form of Frequency (Percentage). After fulfilling parametric assumptions, Repeated measure ANOVA will be applied.

Potential benefits:

  1. The subjects receiving the interventions will experience reduced stress and anxiety.
  2. The subjects will be introduced to an innovative and immersive technology i.e., VR.
  3. A step will be taken forward towards the use of technology in stress management, along with a traditional relaxation technique such as Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR).
  4. The use of VR for stress management is cost effective and time saving.

Potential risks:

  1. Motion Sickness It will be tried to minimize by excluding the susceptible subjects, using Visually Induced Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (VIMSSQ). Also subjects with any psychological or in-corrected eye sight will not be included in the study. In case the above mentioned risk develops during the intervention, the subject will be given rest.
  2. Increased Drop Out Rate If the required sample size is not met due to high drop out rate, new participants will be recruited and the procedure will be repeated until required amount of data is available.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Pakistan
    • Punjab
      • Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, 46994
        • Recruiting
        • Shalamar Medical and Dental College
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Reema Khanam, DPT
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Laiba Khan, DPT
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Maha Sohail, DPT
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Dr. Masooma Gull, MSc

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Students of either sex, aged between 18-24 years
  • Students with Stress (through perceived stress scale PSS, any individual with a score above 14)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Students more susceptible to motion sickness (Through VIMSSQ),
  • Students with in-corrected eye-sight,
  • Students with phobias relevant to landscapes/views of mountains, forests, beaches and night-skies.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Progressive muscle relaxation will be applied for 15-20 minutes for 3 consecutive days for 1 week.
Other: Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Intervention will be applied for 15-20 minutes 3 consecutive days a week for 1 week
Other Names:
  • PMR
Experimental: Virtual Reality
Virtual reality session will be given for 8 mins for 3 consecutive days for 1 week.
Other: Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Intervention will be applied for 15-20 minutes 3 consecutive days a week for 1 week
Other Names:
  • PMR
Device: Virtual Reality Therapy
Therapy through VR will be given for 8 minutes 3 times a week on consecutively for 1 week
Other Names:
  • VR Therapy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Stress Reduction
Time Frame: the outcome will be determine at the base line of the treatment and at the 3rd day after initiation oftreatment
Reduction in Perceived Stress scale(PSS) from the previous reading will be considered as stress reduction. information will be collected before and after the treatment on each day. The scoring of Perceived Stress scale(PSS) ranges between 0-40, where 0-13 means low stress, 14-26 means moderate stress and 27-40 would be considered as high perceived stress
the outcome will be determine at the base line of the treatment and at the 3rd day after initiation oftreatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Shalamar Institute of Health Sciences

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Reema Khanam, DPT, Shalamar Medical and Dental College
  • Principal Investigator: Laiba Khan, DPT, Shalamar Medical and Dental College
  • Principal Investigator: Maha Sohail, DPT, Shalamar Medical and Dental College

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

October 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 10, 2023

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 31, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 31, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

September 8, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 28, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 25, 2023

Last Verified

September 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SSAHS 2023/02

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Stress

Clinical Trials on Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Slovakia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe