Effect of Jacobson's Progressive Muscle Relaxation on the Caregiver Burden in the Military’s Spouses with Depressive Disorders in Selected Military Hospitals

Introduction: In military environments, due to the particular sensitivity and existing risks, stress and mental pressure are more prevalent, and therefore, the employed personnel is at risk of mental disorders, such as depression. Mental disorders of military personnel increase psychological stress in their spouses, which require the use of appropriate interventions to be controlled. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of Jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation technique on the caregiving burden of military personnel's spouses with depressive disorders. Materials and Methods: This clinical trial study was performed with the participation of 69 military personnel's spouses of depressed patients hospitalized in 3 selected AJA hospitals in Tehran, Iran, in 2019. The subjects were selected through the convenience sampling method and randomly allocated into two groups of experimental (receiving Jacobson progressive muscle relaxation technique) and control (receiving no intervention). Before the intervention, individual characteristics and caregiver burden status of both groups were assessed using a demographic information form and the Guest and Novak caregiving questionnaire. The experimental group underwent daily Jacobson’s progressive muscle relaxation technique for 4 weeks. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software (version 18). Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of individual characteristics (P˃0.05). In the pre-intervention phase, the mean scores of caregiver burden scores in the experimental and control groups were obtained at 51.94±8.79 and 52.32±8.74, respectively, with no significant difference (P=0.861). However, the mean scores of caregiver burden scores were 48.60±7.44 in the experimental group and 52.21±8.81 in the control group, which had a statistically significant difference (P=0.020). Conclusion: The Jacobson muscle relaxation technique can be used as a simple and inexpensive method along with other interventions to reduce the pressure of the caregiver burden, especially in spouses of military personnel suffering from depression.