Patient Education and Counseling, cilt.113, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
Objective: This study, accordingly, was conducted with the purpose of investigating the effect of progressive muscle relaxation exercise on the intensity of restless leg syndrome (RLS) and RLS-related quality of life and sleep in pregnant women with RLS. Methods: This one-centered, parallel randomized controlled study was conducted with 52 pregnant women. 27–28th of pregnancy, progressive muscle relaxation exercises training was shown and they were asked to practice them 3 times a week for 8 weeks. Results: It was found that the RLS Intensity Scale and PSQI posttest mean scores of the women in experiment group are lower on a statically significant level than the mean scores of the women in control group (p = 0.000 and p = 0.001). It was detected that the RLS-Qol posttest mean scores of the women in the experiment group are higher than the mean scores in the control group on a statistically significant level (p = 0.000). Conclusions: It was seen that progressive muscle relaxation exercises alleviate RLS intensity and symptoms and improve RLS-related quality of life and sleep in pregnant women. Practice implication: Progressive muscle relaxation exercises are beneficial for pregnant women and can be easily integrated into practice.