Stress management techniques in patients with psoriasis: a randomized controlled trial

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:1312472 286 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Η Επιστήμη του Στρές και η Προαγωγή της Υγείας
Library of the School of Health Sciences
Deposit date:
2014-11-19
Year:
2014
Author:
Παπαδοπούλου Αργυρούλα
Supervisors info:
Καθηγήτρια Δερματολογίας Χ. Αντωνίου, Καθηγητής Παιδιατρικής Γ.Π. Χρούσος, Καθηγήτρια Προαγωγής Υγείας Χ. Δαρβίρη
Original Title:
Μελέτη της επίδρασης των τεχνικών διαχείρισης του στρες σε ασθενείς με ψωρίαση: τυχαιοποιημένη ελεγχόμενη μελέτη
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
Stress management techniques in patients with psoriasis: a randomized controlled trial
Summary:
Introduction: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder of the
skin. The prevalence of psoriasis is said to be 1.5-2% of the world’s
population. Stress is a well-established systemic triggering factor in
psoriasis. It has been associated with initial presentations of the disease, as
well as flares of pre-existing psoriasis in up to 40% of adults.
Non-pharmaceutical interventions, like stress management techniques, can be
easily incorporated in the treatment of psoriasis with satisfactory
results. Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness
of stress management techniques as additional treatment in this systemic
disorder.
Method: This is a two-armed parallel group, randomized controlled trial. The
patients with psoriasis were randomly assigned to undergo either an 8-week
stress management program (N=26) (diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle
relaxation, cognitive restructuring/gratitude, guided visualization and and
adopting a healthy lifestyle) or a control condition (N=25). Patients in the
intervention group received information about stress, psoriasis and stress
management techniques. They participate once in a week in consultative
meetings. Two questionnaires were used at baseline and at the end of 8weeks :
a questionnaire of daily routine, lifestyle, stress and healty living, which
was specially designed by the master program of Medical School of Athens
“Stress control and health promotion” and a questionnaire measuring stress in
psoriasis (PLSI). Somatometric measurements of the patients were held before
and after the intervention. The patients were trained with special biofeedback
machine and they were afforded with a personal pedometer.
Results: At the end of 8 weeks of the relaxation program, in the intervention
group, we found improvements on perceived stress. As far as symptoms of
depression and anxiety are concerned, there was significant decrease at the end
of the relaxation program and statistically significant results were noticed in
stress deriving from the influence of psoriasis in quality of life of patients.
Finally, there was no change in health locus of control after the practice of
stress management techniques.
Conclusions: The training of patients with psoriasis in relaxation techniques
contributes to decrease in stress and in symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Simple techniques such as diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle
relaxation and guided imagery, which are easily applicable, may be regarded as
effective and low cost non-pharmacological supplementary treatment of
psoriasis.
Keywords:
Psoriasis, Stress, Stress management techniques, Healthy living model, Coping stress
Index:
No
Number of index pages:
0
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
48
Number of pages:
38
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