Özet:

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of music therapy and progressive relaxation exercise on distance learning receiver university students’ quality of life. Students from different cities and universities across Turkey were sent consent forms by reaching and volunteered participants were evaluated with a participant evaluation form. Method: Between February 2021 and April 2021, 88 volunteer participants who met the inclusion criteria were included in our study. Participants were divided into 3 groups by randomizing as Control Group (n: 30), Music Therapy Group (n: 28) and Progressive Relaxation Exercise Group (n: 30). Permission was obtained from the owner of the website asoftmurmur.com in order to create the audio recordings and for the use of WHOQOL-BREF Scale, from WHOQOL Turkey Center. Demographic data of the participants were recorded before the research the quality of life was evaluated on the first and the last day of the study using the WHOQOL-BREF Scale which includes physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. Participants were given training by means of online meetings in the beginning of the practice. In the 4-week experiment with weekly reminders and controls whereas the Music Therapy Group listened to 15-minute audio recordings of nature sounds daily for 4 weeks, the Progressive Relaxation Exercise Group applied the configured relaxation exercises program with the same audio recordings. The Control Group recorded heart rate, respiratory frequency and uninterrupted sleep duration every morning to the chart prepared for the research. Music and Progressive Relaxation Exercise Groups also performed similar daily follow-ups. The qualitative and quantitative statistical analysis of the data obtained from the research was performed using the SPSS 24 program. Results: The average age of participants was X̄= 21,63±1,73 years. 73,9% of the participants were female and 26,1% were male. Demographic characteristics of the participants were similar (p>0,05). In the last evaluation among the groups’ final scores a statistically significant difference was found between the Control Group and the Music Therapy Group in the physical area score (p<0,05). A statistically significant increase was found in the physical and environmental field scores of the Music Therapy Group in the initial and final evaluation comparisons within the group (p<0,05). Conclusion: In our study, it was concluded that music therapy and progressive relaxation exercises improved the quality of life of university students receiving distance learning. It was thought that conducting studies investigating the effects of different music therapy / home-based physical activity and relaxation with exercise programs on health-related quality of life in university students in the future and the effect of these protocols on healthy lifestyles and their dissemination among undergraduate students who do not study in a health-related department would create added value in health and learning.

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