Research Information System
Progress in Health Sciences, no.11, pp.15-23, 2021 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
Purpose: This study is a cross-sectional study whose
purpose was to investigate the level of knowledge of
nursing students regarding Therapeutic Touch (TT).
Materials and methods: The study population was
comprised of nursing students (N: 1200) in the 2017-
2018 academic year. The sample group included 235
students. A questionnaire created by the conductors
of the study was used to collect data.
Results: It was found that the average age of nursing
students participating in the study was 22.37, 86% of
them were female, and 68.9% of nursing students
who agreed to participate in the study had previously
heard of TT. 40.4% of students stated that TT was
included in the Alternative Medicine Systems,
almost half (53.2%) stated that the first practitioner
of TT was a nurse. The majority (35.7%) stated that
India was the first country to practice. 62% of the
students stated that TT was effective in reducing
anxiety, 68.5% was ineffective in treating infections
and diagnosing cancer. Although, according to the
majority of nursing students (62.6%) that
participated in the study, the main purpose of the
application is to ensure energy balance by regulating
the body's energy flow, almost half of the students
that participated in the study (51.5%) concluded that
they think skin contact is necessary during TT.
Conclusions: It was found that more than half of the
nursing students had heard about TT before but
could not identify it accurately and less than half of
the students were willing to learn this practice.
Keywords: Therapeutic touch, nursing student,
knowledge level
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