EFFICACY OF ABBREVIATED PROGRESSIVE MUSCLE-RELAXATION TRAINING - A QUANTITATIVE REVIEW OF BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE RESEARCH

A quantitative review was undertaken of recent research in which abbre viated progressive muscle relaxation training (APRT) was used as an in tervention for psychophysiological and stress-related disorders. The s trength of association between APRT and outcome measures was calculate d for 29 experiments published after 1980. The average effect size acr oss all experiments was moderate (r = .40). Moreover, for experiments that included a follow-up assessment, a similar effect size was noted at the first follow-up (r = .43). Additionally, experiments that used a prospective design (i.e., analyzed change) detected a stronger effec t for APRT than those that used a cross-sectional design (i.e., compar ed groups). APRT was most strongly associated with improvement in expe riments that delivered APRT on an individual basis and provided recipi ents with training tapes. Moreover, the treatment duration and number of sessions positively influenced the strength of association.