Ninth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

There are numerous relaxation techniques to reduce college student stress. Research supports Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) as a validated treatment for reducing negative stress. PMR has become fairly popular due to its physical and psychological benefits, ease of intervention in a range of populations, and low cost. Specifically, PMR studies with college students have shown positive stress reduction results. However, most PMR techniques require 20 minutes or more to implement, which is challenging during a college class. This study investigated the effects of a seven (7) minute Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) technique implemented weekly on student stress levels. The different relaxation techniques students prefer and the amount of time they prefer to participate were also examined. A standardized PMR was implemented for 6 weeks to volunteer student participants who were enrolled in a 16-week semester course. The Perceived Stress Survey (PSS) was utilized and incorporated 14 questions measuring mean pre and post intervention stress. The student data (N=21) was analyzed using a paired t-test. The analysis revealed a significant effect between the pre (35.29) and post (28.48) survey mean scores regarding stress levels (p>0.001). Even though PMR was implemented in this study, meditation, prayer, and yoga were the preferred relaxation techniques for students. Future robust studies could be designed to look at the effects of similar PMR study conditions on a wide variety of college classes and class sizes using information from this initial study.