Abstract

PURPOSE

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of Relaxation Breathing Exercise (RBE) on fatigue in patients with gynaecological cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

METHODS

We used a quasi-experiment with pre- and post-test design. Forty-two patients were consecutively sampled, 21 of whom were assigned to the group receiving RBE four times a day and 21 to the group receiving RBE twice a day. Fatigue scores were measured every day for 7 days for both groups using the Piper Fatigue Scale. Data obtained were analysed using repeated-ANOVA and independent -test with a significant level of  < 0.01.

RESULTS

We found a significant decrease ( < 0.01) in the mean fatigue scores of both groups (four times RBE in a day group = 3.29 ± 0.59 and twice RBE in a day group = 4.19 ± 0.61) after the completion of the intervention. However, the four times RBE a day group showed larger decrease on fatigue scores than the twice RBE a day group did (Mean Difference = 0.91; 99% CI = 0.41 to 1.41;  = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Conducting RBE four times a day effectively alleviated fatigue better than RBE twice a day on gynaecological cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

MeSH

Respiration, Breathing Exercises, Drug Therapy, Fatigue, Neoplasms, Exercise, Chemotherapy

Cited by

• Perceived social support, fatigue, and sleep quality in women treated for gynecological cancer: a cross-sectional study. Support Care Cancer, 2025
• The effects of Pranayama breathing exercise on symptom burden among women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Complement Med Ther, 2025