Effectiveness of autogenic relaxation on depression among menopausal women.

A study to evaluate the effectiveness of autogenic relaxation on depression among menopausal women in selected villages at Madurai. An experimental approach was used and the conceptual framework of the study was based on wiedenbach’s helping art of clinical nursing theory. Pre test post test control group design was used for this study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples . The total sample size was 60, 30 were selected in the experimental group and 30 in the control group by simple random sampling. The tool used for data collection had two parts. Part one was demographic variables of the menopausal women and part two was modified Cornell Dysthymia rating scale. Autogenic relaxation was administered for 30 samples in the experimental group which was divided into six groups. Exercise was given for twenty minutes per group. Descriptive statistics (Frequency, mean, percentage) and inferential statistics (paired t test, independent‘t’ test & chi-square) were used to analyze the data and to test the hypothesis. In experimental group, majority (43.33%) of the menopausal women were above 50 years and 53.33% had their primary education. 70% of menopausal women in the experimental group were married. 80% of menopausal women in the experimental group were Hindu, 66.66% of menopausal women were housewives, 56.66% have two children, 63.33% belongs to nuclear family, 36.66% of menopausal women in experimental group had their period of cessation of menstruation before one year and 53.33% of women has no problem with their husband. The obtained ‘t’ value (9.49) was statistically significant at 0.05 level using paired ‘t’ test. The obtained ‘t’ value ( 7.67) was statistically significant at 0.05 level at 58 d.f using independent t-test. There was a significant association between post test level of depression and selected demographic variables like occupational status and problem with husband. Autogenic relaxation can be a nurse initiated intervention that has the advantage of being therapeutic for depressive clients. It can be used to reduce the level of depression among menopausal women