Parichehr Shahroudi - Instructor, Department of Pediatric Nursing, Zeinab School of Nursing and Midwifery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
Minomitra Chehrzad - Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Atefeh Ghanbari - Professor of Nursing, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Parand Pourghane - Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Zeinab School of Nursing and Midwifery, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Bahram Naderi-nabi - Professor of Pain Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine,Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
Mohsen Mohammadi - Master, Department of Nursing, Ardabil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Zahra Atrkarroushan - Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Otorhinolaryngology Research Center, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran

Background: Vaccination is one of the most common and painful methods of disease prevention that imposes stress on infants, and affects their parents, as well. Nurses are the main designers of nursing practices and one of their primary tasks is to play a supporting role in reducing pain during injections; so, they should be able to choose the most useful and safest methods of care. The present study, thus, aimed to determine the effect of foot reflexology massage on pain during vaccine injection in infants. Methods: This study was a double-blind clinical trial. The study population included ۹۰ healthy infants aged ۲-۷ months who were brought by their parents to one of the comprehensive health centers of Rasht (Guilan province, Iran) for pentavalent vaccine injection. The infants were randomly divided into three groups: foot reflexology massage, neutral point massage (sham group) and control. Data collection instruments included a demographic information form and the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability scale (FLACC). Data were analyzed using Chi-square, ANOVA, independent t-test and repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS ver. ۲۲. Results: There was no significant difference between the three groups in terms of pre-vaccination pain level. Means ± standard deviations of pain during vaccine injections in the intervention, sham, and control groups were ۴.۸۳ ± ۱.۰۸, ۷.۹۶ ± ۰.۹۹, and ۸.۴۰ ± ۱.۱۳, respectively, which were significantly different (p<۰.۰۰۱). Conclusion: Foot reflexology massage can reduce the pain during pentavalent injection in infants and can be used as a simple and accessible non-pharmacological method to manage vaccination pain in infants.

Foot reflexology massage, Pain, Infant, Vaccination, Clinical trial