A Study to assess the effectiveness of Pranayama on Stress and coping among housewives in selected community, Salem

 

Sowmiya. V

Oxford College of Nursing Sciences, Bommanahalli, Bangalore.

 

ABSTRACT:

A Study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of pranayama on stress and coping among housewives in Selected Community, Salem. Quasi experimental one group pretest posttest design was adopted for this study. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 60 samples. Pranayama was implemented to the housewives for 21consecutive days. Post test was done on 24^th day of intervention. The data were gathered and analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical method. The findings revealed that during pre test 28 (46.67%) and 32 (53.33%) of the samples had mild and moderate stress respectively. 34 (56.67%) and 26 (43.33%) of them had moderate and high level of coping respectively. During post test 47 (78.33) and 13 (21.67%) of the samples had mild and moderate stress respectively, whereas 10 (16.67%) and 50 (8.33%) of them had moderate and high level of coping respectively. The paired ‘t’ value for stress was13.05 and for coping was 11.21 which are greater than the table value 1.96 at p£0.05 level indicating the difference in mean was true difference and pranayama was effective in reducing stress and attaining high level of coping among housewives. Hence H₁ was retained. Significant association was found between monthly income (c² = 15.00) and husband’s occupation (c²=11.72) with the level of stress. Hence H₂ was retained for the above mentioned variables and there was significant association found between number of children (c²=11.04) with the level of coping. Hence H₃ was retained for the above mentioned variables. There was negative correlation (r = -0.482) between the level of stress and coping. Hence H₄ was retained. Pranayama is a non-pharmacological, cost effective and very practicable measure to reduce the level of stress and improve the level of coping among housewives.

 

INTRODUCTION:

Marriage is one of the most important events in an individual’s life span. People believe that life after marriage is very interesting. How ever the responsibilities of husband and wife are far more than anyone can imagine. As life moves on, both husband and wife start to experience a variety of problems like inability to adjust to each other, financial difficulties, inability to keep aside enough time for each other due to work pressure, pregnancy, arrival of child and sexual dissatisfaction etc. Many of the women do not take notice of the stress that end up in being psychologically as well as physiologically disturbed. Throughout the history of mankind women have been dominated by men. Even after marriage, the same trend continues irrespective of the culture, mostly all around the world. The raising of children puts immense pressure on the woman who works at home. In spite of the stress experienced by women, many are able to cope up effectively to the problems in the married life. However, many do not cope up with the stress of married life and experience a variety of psychological as well as psychosomatic symptoms.

 

Stress is the consequence of failure of an organism-human or animal to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, weather actual or imagined. It is a major health hazard of the modern world affecting all people irrespective of age, gender, education, occupation, domiciliary status, finance, religion, race ethnicity and nationality.

 

Holloway, et.al., (2000) reported that stress in human life is seen with tension, anxiety, worry and pressure, It is an accepted fact that stress is inevitable for life and it can cause either beneficial or intellectual, spiritual and social wellbeing. Chronic stress causes biological disruption, Stressors are causation for physical illness and it could result in death, anxiety, and illness related family burden, impaired quality of life and lack of social support.

 

Yoga offers many breathing skills for stress affected individuals. These yogic breathing techniques are termed as pranayama. Pranayama consists of various ways of inhaling, exhaling and retention of prana. Pranayama is the best practice to reduce stress.

 

Gidean, (2004) said that when stress level goes beyond the limit, individuals find difficult to cope up with the demands of life. It is particularly more in women as stress is provoked by various factors like physical, psychological, social, familial, economical and sexual.

 

Hinn Hashmi, (2004) reported that yoga which involves gentle asana, relaxation, pranayama and meditation. The complete breathing exercise can be practiced when people start to feel stressed out. Yoga helps to calm the mind and teaches to relax. The ancient therapeutic tradition as well as modern medical research speaks about the intimate relationship between our breathing patterns and our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. They have shown how natural healthy respiration not only increases longevity but also supports our overall well-being and self-development and helps in medical conditions.

 

Marym Khursid, (2006) said that housewife is a pillar of her family and to support everyone that pillar is need to take extra care and attention. It is not only her but everybody’s duty in the family to take care of her. A female should also understand that to fulfill all her duties, she needs to be mentally and physically healthy.  A housewife is supposed to do multidimensional works for that she needs to have a good stamina. A female also requires mental and physical relaxation created by environment and work pressure, which, if not taken care, can lead to stress.     

 

Lack of physical and mental relaxation leads to Stress in housewives which can be prevented and managed by regular practice of Yoga. Practice of Yoga helps to release healthy chemicals in body which makes a person feel good and relaxed thus curing stress. Pranayama (Breathing exercises) controls mind which inhibits too much thought process and makes them feel relaxed and concentrated.

 

Sri Ravishankar, (2005) stated that the benefits of yoga postures, pranayama and meditation include increased body awareness, release of muscular tension and increased coordination between mind and body. It helps in better management of stress and ensures an overall feeling of well being.

 

Istiaq Hassan, (2002) states yoga for women works on both the mind and body. It makes them strong both physically and emotionally to handle the challenges of life. Yoga provides natural relaxation which is not experienced with any other exercise. Yoga exercises stimulate all the body organs and endocrine glands. It also boosts immune system to ward off autoimmune diseases.

 

NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Stress is a form of anxiety and discomfort stemming usually from lack of rest or constant exposure to high complicated situations. Stress can result from many things, both physical and psychological pressures and deadlines at work, problems with loved ones, the need to pay bills, etc are just some of the obvious matters of stress for many people. Stress can cause fatigue, headache, irritability, and changes in appetite, memory loss, low self esteem, withdrawal, cold hands, high blood pressure, shallow breathing, nervous twitches, reduced sex desires, insomnia or other changes in sleep patterns. According to the Indian statistical report 87% of Indian women claim feeling stressed most of the time, with an additional 82% asserting that they had insufficient time to relax. The biggest stress is felt among women of 25-55 years of age, typically married where expectations from women have risen-and where conflicts between what all women must do too has surged.

 

Robert Koch, (2000) said that housewives between the age of 30 and 50 years are especially often affected by physical emotional and functional impairments such as sleep disorders and anxiety disorders. This is due to loss of income, loss of social contacts in the workplace or loss of social reputation.

 

Vankar, (2005) said that housewives are having multi responsibilities in their home which adds up to the stress. There are number of factors like social, economical and psychological which could lead to stress.

 

Masihi, (2006) reported that housewives face traditional problems like not being able to conceive a male child, dowry, decrease in interaction between husband and children, difference in standards of living, insufficient time to relax, lack of family support and unemployment that lead to stress.

 

Mintin, (2004) stated that depression is the most common enemy of a women whether working or a housewife. We may think housewives are having a nice time, but they may be experiencing more problems staying at home. At times, women may feel frustrated, hopeless and trapped in the monotonous daily routine. However, most of the depressions and stresses of life can be avoided with more awareness. Any women may feel stressed due to nature of their role in their society, handling of added responsibilities of home, failure to get the required love and affection from their life partner.

 

We are living in an instant coffee world. People are too busy that they have very little time to sit and relax. Life has become more luxurious and sophisticated but stress also has become inevitable. We may think housewives are lucky as they can spend the whole day free but it is not the ease. They too have plenty to worry about. Yoga an art of bringing all the elements into control is cost effective, non-pharmacological and safe method. By mastering the art of yoga and pranayama one can bring the Himalayan stress down to melting glaciers. So the investigator has chosen to teach pranayama for housewives to keep their minds free from stress and help to attain higher coping level.

 

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Pranayama on Stress and Coping among Housewives in a Selected Community, Salem.

 

OBJECTIVES:

·       To assess the level of stress and coping among housewives.

·       To Assess the effectiveness of pranayama on stress and coping among housewives.

·       To find out the correlation between the level of stress and coping among housewives.

·       To associate the level of stress and coping among housewives with their selected demographic variables.

Hypothesis:

H₁:   There is a significant difference in the level of stress and coping among housewives, before and after pranayama at p£0.05 level.

H₂:   There is a significant association between the level of stress with their selected demographic variable at p£0.05 level.

H₃:   There is a significant association between the level of coping and their selected demographic variables at p£0.05 level.

H₄:     There is a correlation between the level of stress and coping among housewives at p£0.05 level

 

Operational Definitions:

Effectiveness:

It refers to significant reduction of stress level as determined by the difference between pre test and post test stress and coping scores.

 

Pranayama:

It refers to set of physical and mental exercise intended to give control over the body and mind, which are practiced by housewives under supervision for 21 days.

 

Stress:

It refers to feeling of discomfort which is caused by physical, familial, social, financial and sexual factors among housewives.

 

Coping:

The measures which is used by the housewives to reduce their level of stress.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Research Approach:

Evaluative research approach

 

Research Design:

Quasi experimental design (one group pre test post test) was adopted for this study to Assess the effectiveness of pranayama on stress and coping among housewives.

 

Population:

The population of the study included all the housewives, residing in Poolavari village at Salem.

 

Sampling technique and sample size:

The investigator selected 60 housewives through simple random sampling technique.

 

The major findings of the study was summarized as follows,

·       Among 60 samples 17(31.67%) samples were between the age group of 31-35, 27(45%) samples had primary education, 37(61.67%) sample’s husband were daily wages, 21(35%) samples earned Rs. 3001-4000, all the samples 60(100%) were Hindu. 45(75%) samples were of non consanguineous marriage,16(26.67%) sample’s duration of marital life was 1-5yrs, 26(41.67%) samples had two children, 36(60%) samples belong to nuclear family,and 35(56.7%) sample’s husband had bad habits of alcoholism.

·       In pretest 28 (46.67%) samples had mild stress, 32(53.33%) samples had moderate stress and none of them had severe stress. In post test 47(78.33%) samples had mild stress and 13(21.67%) had moderate stress.

·       In pretest 34 (56.67%) had moderate level of coping and 26 (43.33%) had high level of coping. In post test 50(83.33%) had high level of coping and 10(16.67%) had moderate level of coping.

·       The mean pre-test stress score was 25.55 ±9.40 and the mean post –test stress score was 20.98±7.54. The mean pre- test coping score was 13.12±2.73 and mean post test coping score was 15.2±1.88. The paired‘t’ value at p<0.005  level for stress was 13.05 and for coping was 11.21. It shows that the pranayama is effective in reducing stress and improving the level of coping among housewives. Hence H₁ is retained.

·       There was a significant association between the level of stress and their selected demographic variables like monthly income and husband’s occupation and there was a significant association between the level of coping and their selected demographic variables like number of children. Hence H₂ and H₃ is retained.

·       There was a negative co-relation between the level of stress and coping. When stress increases the level of coping is decreased. Hence H₄ is retained.

 

Co-relation between stress and coping among housewives

Figure-1: Correlation between stress and coping

 

Figure-1 shows that the obtained ‘r’ value is 0.482 and it reveals there is negative correlation between stress and coping. When stress increases the coping level is decreased. Hence H₄ is retained.

 

a) Association between the level of stress and coping among housewives and their demographic variables.

Table 1: Chi-square test on level of stress and their demographic variables                                                                                        n=60

S. No	Demographic variables	df	c2	Table value
1	Age in years	3	0.446	7.82
2	Education	3	4.839	7.82
3	Occupation of husband	3	11.72*	7.82
4	Monthly income	3	15.00*	7.82
5	Type of marriage	1	0.90	3.84
6	Duration of marital life in years	4	3.298	9.49
7	Number of children	4	2.621	9.49
8	Type of family	2	1.785	5.99
9	Presence of any bad habits in husband	5	9.8	11.1

*Significant at p<0.05 level.

 

The above table shows that there was a significant association between the level of stress and their selected demographic variables like monthly income and husband’s occupation. Hence H₂ is retained for the above mentioned demographic variables.

 

Chi-square test on level of coping and their selected demographic variables.

 

Table-2: Chi-square test on level of coping and their demographic variables.                                                                     N=60

S. No	Demographic variables	df	c2	Table value
1	Age in years	3	2.466	7.82
2	Education	3	6.202	7.82
3	Occupation of husband	3	3.552	7.82
4	Monthly income	3	7.863	7.82
5	Type of marriage	1	0.090	3.84
6	Duration of marital life in years	4	3.648	9.49
7	Number of children	4	11.948*	9.49
8	Type of family	2	2.101	5.99
9	Presence of any bad habits in husband	5	4.5	11.1

*Significant at p<0.05 level

 

The above table shows that there was a significant association between the level of coping and their selected demographic variables like number of children. Hence hypotheses H₃ is retained for the above mentioned demographic variables.

 

CONCLUSION:

The study was done to Assess the effectiveness of pranayama on stress and coping among housewives in a selected community Salem. The result of the study showed that most of the housewives had reduction in stress and increased level of coping through pranayama.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

·       A similar study could be conducted with employed women to find out the effectiveness of the pranayama.

·       A study can be conducted with larger subjects.

·       A similar technique can be conducted using experimental and control group.

·       A comparative study can be conducted to find out the difference in level of stress, anxiety and depression between employed women and unemployed women.

 

REFERENCES:

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4.      Dr. Mary Verghese. (1994). Essentials of psychiatrics and Mental health nursing (2^nd edition). India: Elsevier Publications.

5.      Gail.W. Stuart. (2001). Principles and Practice of Psychiatric nursing (7^th edition). New Delhi: Harcourt Private Limited.

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Received on 14.12.2019          Modified on 02.01.2020

Accepted on 19.01.2020   © A&V Publications all right reserved