Practicing Progressive Relaxation Exercises The training of the Zoom application progressive relaxation exercise for the nurses was done in two sessions for a total of 60 minutes. During the first interview, the definition, purpose, benefits, and application techniques of PRE were explained to the nurses in the intervention group. In the second session, the steps of progressive relaxation exercises were demonstrated by the trainer.

The trainer performed the PRE exercise online with the nurses. Nurses were asked to perform the PRE application in accordance with the commands in the video recordings. In addition, a guide in which the steps of applying progressive relaxation exercises for each muscle group were written was given to the nurses. It was stated that they should do the application regularly for 25-30 minutes in the morning every day at home for a month.

No intervention was applied to the control group during the study. However, after the research was completed, the video of the application of the progressive relaxation exercises to the control group was shared on the WhatsApp group.

The trainer performed the PRE exercise online with the nurses. The video recording of the progressive relaxation exercises was shared with the nurses participating in the study on WhatsApp groups. Nurses were asked to perform the PRE application in accordance with the commands in the video recordings. In addition, a guide in which the steps of applying progressive relaxation exercises for each muscle group were written was given to the nurses. It was stated that they should do the application regularly for 25-30 minutes in the morning every day at home for a month. The PRE application was reminded daily from the WhatsApp group for the nurses to apply regularly to the sessions and not to disrupt the sessions. Nurses shared the messages stating that they were doing the PRE application on a daily basis for four weeks on WhatsApp groups.

Socio-demographic characteristics of nurses such as age, gender, educational status, working time in the profession, professional characteristics such as the unit they worked before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, working time and working style, how their family life was affected in the COVID-19 pandemic, and contains information on their greatest concern regarding the pandemic.

It is a five-point Likert-type scale and consists of 14 items. Participants rate each item on a scale ranging from "Never (0)" to "Very often (4)". Seven of the items with positive statements are scored in reverse. As the scores obtained from the scale increase, the perceived stress level of the person increases. PSS-14 scores range from 0 to 56, with 0-35 point range indicating normal stress level, 35-56 point range indicating that the individual is under stress.

The 4-point Likert-type State Anxiety Inventory, consisting of 20 items in total, measures a person's anxiety at a certain time. According to the severity of the feelings, thoughts or behaviors expressed by the items in the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, it is required to choose one of the options "not at all," "a little," "a lot," and "totally". There are 10 (items 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19 and 20) reversed statements in the STAI. While scoring the scale, the reversed statements with a weight of 1 were converted to 4, and those with a weight of 4 were converted to 1. In direct statements, answers with a value of 4 indicate high anxiety. In reversed expressions, answers with a value of 1 indicate high anxiety, and a value of 4 indicates low anxiety. The last value obtained was accepted as the individual's anxiety score. It is reported that the level of anxiety is high for scores above 42 points.