Investigation of the effect of expressive touch on physiological and psychological states of intensive care patients

Objective: The expressive touch is a complementary treatment method with the easiest practice among the independent functions of nursesMethods: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of expressive touch on physiological and psychological states of intensive care patients. The study was conducted by using the pretest-posttest experimental model with control group. 76 patients (38 control-38 experimental), who received treatment in the intensive care unit since they had a myocardial infarction for the first time, were included in the study after the power analysis. The State Anxiety Inventory was applied in the experimental group 15 minutes before the touch and 15 minutes after the touch; the haemoglobin, blood pressure and pulse values were recorded. In the control group, on the other hand, the data were collected within the same duration by using the same method without touchingResults: The anxiety scores and blood pressure averages of patients before and after the touch on days 1 and 2 were found to be statistically significant between groups. The difference between the mean haemoglobin values was found to be significant on day 2. The difference between the pulse averages was not statistically significant.Conclusion: The expressive touch might be effective on decreasing the anxiety, increasing the haemoglobin values and decreasing the blood pressure and pulse of patients in the intensive care unit.

Keywords:

Expressive touch , Intensive care , Nursing , Anxiety