COVID-19 pandemic: Study on simple, easy, and practical relaxation techniques while wearing medical protective equipment

Background. No studies have reported on how to relieve distress or relax in medical health workers while wearing medical protective equipment in COVID-19 pandemic.The study aimed to establish which relaxation technique, among six, is the most feasible in first-line medical health workers wearing medical protective equipment. Methods. This was atwo-step study collecting data with online surveys. Step 1: 15 first-line medical health workerswere trained to use six different relaxation techniques and reported the two most feasible techniques while wearing medical protective equipment. Step 2: the most two feasible relaxation techniques revealed by the step 1 were quantitatively tested in a sample of 65 medical health workers in terms of efficacy, no space limitation, no time limitation, no body position requirement, no environment limitation to be done, easiness to learn, simplicity, convenience, practicality, and acceptance. Results. Kegel exercise and autogenic relaxation were the most feasible techniques according to step 1. In step 2, Kegel exercise outperformed autogenic relaxation on all the ten dimensions among the 65 participants while wearing medical protective equipment(efficacy: " vs15, no space limitation: 30 vs4, no time limitation: 31 vs4, no body position requirement: 26 vs4, no environment limitation: 30 vs11, easiness to learn: 28 vs5, simplicity: 29 vs7, convenience: 29 vs 4, practicality: 30 vs14, acceptance: 32 vs6). Conclusion. Kegel exercise seems a promising self-relaxation technique for first-line medical health workers while wearing medical protective equipment amongCOVID-19pandemic.