Baseline breathing exercises

the RR in their personal lives and practiced the actual Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for Study Variables at Technique in the Class. They were encouraged to do Baseline breathing exercises for 10 to 20 minutes, twice Wait-List Control Intervention per day, for 8 weeks and were asked to keep a journal Group (N = 22), Group (N = 24), of their relaxation breathing sessions. The nurses in Study Variable M (SD) M (SD) p Value both groups completed the pre and post-self-report STAI-State 38.14 (7.56) 38.40 (6.65) .90 assessments. The nurses that were in the control STAI-Trait 38.50 (7.41) 39.32 (7.05) .70 group were eligible to receive the class at the terminal- Visual Analog Scale time of the study, if they so desired. Anxiety 3.59 (1.26) 3.92 (1.44) .41 Depression 2.86 (1.58) 2.68 (1.49) .68 Measures Work-related 4.55 (1.30) 4.80 (1.29) .51 Stress All participants completed the following self- Well-being 2.64 (1.18) 2.32 (0.95) .31 Confidence to 5.23 (1.80) 5.32 (1.84) .86 report instruments at enrollment (pre) and at the teaching end of the 8-week period (post): Note: STAI = State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Higher scores on the 1. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI; STAI indicates worse state-trait anxiety symptoms; higher scores Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970): the Visual Analog Scales indicate worse anxiety, depression, The STAI is a 40-item, well-validated and stress, as well as decreased well-being and less confidence to teach the relaxation response. P values derived from inde-