The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of the use of progressive muscle relaxation training (PMRT) on anxiety and quality of life in colorectal cancer patients after stoma surgery. A randomised controlled trial was used with repeated measures assessment over 10 weeks post-stoma surgery. Fifty-nine patients participated in the study and were randomised to a control group receiving routine care (n=30) and an experimental group receiving routine care and PMRT through two teaching sessions and practice at home for the first 10 weeks. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and two Quality of Life Scales were used to collect the data of interest in three occasions, namely during hospitalisation, at week 5 and at week 10 post-surgery. The use of PMRT significantly decreased state anxiety and improved generic quality of life in the experimental group (P<0.05), especially in the domains of physical health, psychological health, social concerns and environment. Social relationships decreased in both groups. In relation to the disease-specific quality of life measure, differences were observed only in the 10-week assessment, with the experimental group reporting better quality of life at 10 weeks, but not over time as compared to the control group. The use of PMRT should be incorporated in the long-term care of colorectal cancer patients, as it can improve their psychological health and quality of life. This may be a cost-effective intervention that needs minimal training and could easily be offered to those patients that they would like to use it as part of the specialist care provided to stoma patients.

Eighteen patients who had undergone stoma surgery were assessed with respect to their anxiety level and self-reported quality of life (QoL) on three occasions; namely, immediately after surgery, 5 weeks after surgery, and 10 weeks after surgery. The patients were randomised into a control group (n = 10) and an experimental group (n = 8). A 20-min set of audiotaped instructions on progressive muscle relaxation training (PMRT) was given to the patients in the experimental group for home practice. Assessment instructions included the Chinese State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (C-STAI), the Quality of Life Index for Colostomy (QoL-Colostomy) and the Hong Kong Chinese version of the World Health Organisation Quality of Life Scale (WHOQoL). Results indicated that there was a significant decrease in both the C-STAI score (F = 4.66, P < 0.05) and the WHOQoL score (F = 4.74, P < 0.05) in the experimental group. Among the domains of WHOQoL, a significant difference was shown in physical health/independence and general perception of QoL, with the experimental group demonstrating better functioning. For the QoL-Colostomy, however, there was no significant difference between the control and experimental groups. The results suggest that the use of PMRT could enhance quality of life and decrease state anxiety in patients after stoma surgery.

In this paper, a TFT based polarization-controllable lightprinter for optically rewritable (ORW) liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is proposed. Experimental results with gray scale images are also presented. The light-printer consists of a vertically aligned nematic (VAN) mono-color TFT LCD as a polarization controlling unit. 420nm LED light source with Fresnel lens forms the projection unit. With this two-dimensional controlling unit, this light-printer can transfer content to a large-area ORW LCD panel easily.

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