Thus, two-way mixed-design ANOVA was used and
revealed statistically significant interaction effects between
the different intervention sessions and the two groups of
stress VAS (F = 36ฦ50, P < 0ฦ001). The simple main effect of
ANOVA is summarized in Table 3. Results indicated that there
was a statistically significant difference in the level of stress
VAS scores of women who received relaxation training
compared with those women in the control group. At
postintervention session (session 3), participants in the
experimental group had lower stress VAS than those in the
control group (F = 6ฦ45, P = 0ฦ012). Results of stress VAS
also indicated that both the experimental group (F = 141ฦ26,
P < 0ฦ001) and control group (F = 45ฦ39, P < 0ฦ001) had a
statistically significant decrease after intervention. However,
the relaxation programme brought about a more effective
decrease in the participants than did the control programme.
The results supported hypothesis 1.