Relaxation Therapy in the Acute General Hospital Setting

Abstract

The literature pertaining to relaxation therapy usage in the acute general hospital setting was examined. It was found that relaxation training is being used with several patient groups. However, at this stage, studies are only available which show it to be effective with the chronic headache patient group. There exists a need for controlled evaluations to be performed to determine the efficacy of relaxation therapy used with different diagnostic groups. Such evaluations should consider short term versus long term results, and the types of relaxation training methods used.

The Effectiveness of Relaxation Techniques in Controlling Chemotherapy Induced Nausea: A Literature Review

“…They are also used in anxiety management (Miller, Cullen and O'Brien, 1981;and Howard, 1988) and in psychiatry (Fairburn and Fairburn, 1979;and Westland, 1988). Strong (1986b) suggested that occupational therapists should consider measuring and documenting the effectiveness of relaxation training with different patient groups. It is hoped that this review may be a useful guide for therapists intending to investigate this in the area of chemotherapy induced nausea.…”