FOCUS ON RESEARCH 10.1: PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE
Psychophysiological effects of relaxation training in children (Lohaus et al.
2001).Background
Stress is conceptualized as involving both physiological and subjective changes that
can be assessed using laboratory and self-report procedures. This study assessed the
impact of two types of relaxation training on different aspects of the stress response.
It is interesting as it allows an insight into how these different aspects of stress may
interrelate. It also illustrates the impact of relaxation training on children who are a
rarely studied subject group.Aims
The study aimed to explore the relative impact of two types of relaxation training on
children’s physiological and self-report responses. The training types were progressive
muscle relaxation and imagery based relaxation.Participants The study involved 64 children from a school in Germany who were
aged between 10 and 12 years.Design The study used a randomized control trial design and participants were
randomly allocated to one of three arms of the trial: progressive muscle relaxation,
imagery based relaxation or the control group.The interventions Each intervention involved five training sessions. Each session
lasted about 30 minutes. The children were asked to sit quietly for five minutes (baseline
period), then they took part in the intervention, the children were then asked to sit
quietly again for five minutes (follow-up).
Progressive muscle relaxation: Children were asked to tense and relax specific
muscle groups for a period of 7 minutes. These were hand muscles, arms, forehead,
cheeks, chest, shoulders, stomach and thighs.
Imagery based relaxation: Children in this group were asked to imagine that they
were a butterfly going on a fantasy journey such as to a meadow, a tree or a boat.
Control group: Children in this group listened to audiotapes of neutral stories
which were designed not to elicit any feeling of either tension or relaxation.Measures The study involved physiological and self-report measures. Subjective
measurements were taken before and after the baseline period, after the intervention and
after the follow-up period. Physiological measurements were taken continuously
throughout.246 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY