Effects of Hand Massage and Therapeutic Touch on Comfort and Anxiety Living in a Nursing Home in Turkey: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Çınar Yücel Ş., Arslan G. G., Bağcı H.

JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND HEALTH, cilt.59, ss.351-364, 2020 (AHCI)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 59
  • Basım Tarihi: 2020
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10943-019-00813-x
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND HEALTH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, ATLA Religion Database, CINAHL, EMBASE, Index Islamicus, MEDLINE, Psycinfo
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.351-364
  • Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of hand massage and therapeutic

touch on comfort and anxiety in the elderly living in nursing homes. The study was

designed as a randomized controlled, experimental study (with a pre- and posttest

control group). The study population comprised 255 older people aged 65–89 living

in a nursing home in Izmir, a province in Turkey. The study sample included

30 older patients, who were assigned to hand massage (HM) (n = 10), therapeutic

touch (TT) (n = 10) and control (C) (n = 10) groups. Of the elderly who participated

in the study, 50% were female and 80% were single. It was determined that TT and

HM decreased the anxiety and increased the comfort levels of the elderly living in

the nursing home (p < 0.05). It is thought that nurses can easily integrate HM and

TT which are non-medical, non-pharmacologic interventions with no adverse effects

into care activities.

Keywords Hand massage · Therapeutic touch · Comfort · Anxiety