ArticleScientific reports2022
Assessing momentary relaxation using the Relaxation State Questionnaire (RSQ).
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06041672 (The Effectiveness of Warm Hand Bath in Improving Anxiety Before Lower Limbs Surgery Among Middle-aged and Older Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Effectiveness of Warm Hand Bath in Improving Anxiety Before Lower Limbs Surgery Among Middle-aged and Older Patients
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Massage positively influences daytime brain activity and reduces arousal state in poor sleepers: a randomized controlled trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Trial
- Article
- Lower breathing frequencies in personalized slow-paced breathing enhance relaxation and reduce arousal.iScience · 2026Article
- Neural and autonomic regulation during brief mindfulness and relaxation interventions in clinical populations: a multimodal MEG study protocol.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Long-Term Usage of Breeze, a Gamified Breathing Training App, and Its Effect on Momentary Relaxation in People With Cancer: Cohort Study.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- Evaluating Brain Activity in Response to Short Meditation Stimuli Using R-Score, Electroencephalography, and Neural Networks.Annals of neurosciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Development of a self-report scale to assess relaxation effects of flavors and fragrances.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Impact of Relaxation Massage Prior to Bedtime on Sleep Quality and Quantity in People with Symptoms of Chronic Insomnia: A Home-Based Sleep Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Exploring AI-personalized visualization of the safe place in virtual reality versus imagination of the safe place for stress, burnout, and relaxation in psychotherapists: a case series.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Readiness for Perception and Action: Towards a More Mechanistic Understanding of Phasic Alertness.Journal of cognition · 2025Article
- Urgency enforces stimulus-driven action across spatial and numerical cognitive control tasks.PloS one · 2025Article
- Supporting the transition to higher education: examination of state- and trait-level effects of a multicomponent positive psychological intervention for university students.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Early life adversity blunts the subjective and physiological relaxation response in healthy adults.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- A Validation Study for the German Versions of the Feeling Scale and the Felt Arousal Scale for a Progressive Muscle Relaxation Exercise.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Nature videos for PTSD: protocol for a mixed-methods feasibility study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
- The effectiveness and user preferences of two tactile breathing devices in reducing stress in stressed individuals: A mixed methods study.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
- Exploring the acceptability and feasibility of implementing VR relaxation in naturalistic settings.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Stress is ubiquitous in everyday life and hazardous for mental and physical health. To prevent or ameliorate stress-related disease, relaxation exercises aim to counteract stress by inducing short-lasting states of relaxation on a regular basis. Critically, current assessments capture the mid- and long-term consequences of relaxation, however, cannot measure its short-term effects on an individual's momentary psychological state. To address this problem, we developed the Relaxation State Questionnaire (RSQ). We assessed the psychometric quality of the questionnaire by investigating its item properties, reliability, and validity in an online study with 92 participants. Construct validity was examined through correlations with the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ; Fliege in https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.2889 , 2009). An exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors capturing the momentary state of muscle tension, sleepiness, cardiovascular activity, and general relaxation. In a second online study with 99 participants, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis. Results revealed high item loadings (0.70-0.91), excellent reliability (α = 0.86) and excellent fit indices, and a good construct validity of the RSQ. These findings establish the RSQ as a tool to measure momentary states of relaxation. As such, the RSQ opens up research of the immediate subjective effects and the effectiveness of relaxation exercises.
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Registered trials
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