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.
Keywords: anxiety; burnout; caregiver; caregiver burden; palliative care; relaxation exercise; vital sign.
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