The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of aroma hand massage on anxiety and immune function in patients who had gynecology surgery under local anesthesia. The research design was a nonequivalent control group with pre- and posttest design. Data were collected from June 5 to October 6, 2010. Participants included 20 patients in the aroma hand massage group, 20 patients in a hand massage group, and 20 in a control group. As an experimental treatment, hand massage was carried out following the hand massage protocol. Measures consisted of the State Trait Anxiety, Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for anxiety, vital signs (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse rate), and salivary cortisol for anxiety, and immunoglobulin A for immune function. Aroma hand massage and hand massage group showed lower levels in NRS for anxiety, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and pulse rate (p<.001) compared to controls. No group differences were found for state anxiety, salivary cortisol and immunoglobulin A. The results indicate that aroma hand massage and hand massage are effective in reducing anxiety and can be complementary alternative interventions for women having gynecology surgery under local anesthesia.

Methods Forty-six adults with hand pain were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a standard treatment control group. Those assigned to the massage therapy group were massaged by a therapist on the affected hand once a week for a 4-week period and were also taught self-massage on the hand that was to be done by the individual participant once daily. Results The massage therapy group versus the control group had less pain and greater grip strength after the first and last sessions, and their anxiety and depressed mood scores decreased more than the control group. Over the four-week period the massage group had a greater decrease in pain and a greater increase in grip strength as well as lower scores on anxiety, depressed mood and sleep disturbance scales.

PurposeThe study was conducted to determine the effect of hand massage applied to preoperative children on anxiety level and hemodynamic variables. DesignThis research study is a randomized controlled trial with control and study groups, pre- and post-tests. MethodsThis study was conducted between April and September 2017 with 84 children who were planned to receive an operation by applying general/local anesthesia in a province in the south of Turkey. The population of the research was composed of children between the ages 9 and 12 (study group = 42 and control group = 42). The data were collected through “Child and Parent Information Form,” “State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children,” “Physical Symptoms Follow-up Form for Anxiety,” and “Satisfaction Evaluation Scale.” FindingsThe state-trait anxiety mean after hand massage was found to be 25.78 ± 5.90 in the study group, and 31.80 ± 6.51 in the control group (P < .05). There was a statistically significant difference (P < .05) between the systolic blood pressures and heart rate averages of the children in the study group after hand massage. There was a negative correlation between the satisfaction hand massage and state-trait anxiety means of the study group children (P < .05). ConclusionsHand massage was found to have a positive effect on reducing anxiety, systolic blood pressure and heart rate. No effect was found on diastolic blood pressure, respiratory rate and SpO2. We recommend that more extensive studies on hand massage are performed.

Modern society has seen an increase of opportunities to enter facilities due to the rise of diseases in aging population and the decrease of family members. This research is a quasi-experiment study conducted to verify the effects on facility elders’ blood cortisol and serotonin level by applying aroma oil hand massage and regular oil hand massage to them, in order to help improve their stress and depression. Aroma hand massage and regular oil hand massage were applied on the elders’ both hands for 10 minutes per session, 5 times week, for a total of 2 weeks. The study carried out the massage after receiving an approval from the Bioethics Committee of K University for the ethical considerations of study participants based on Helsinki Declaration. The subjects were informed that they could always be withdrawn at any time they want and that the confidentiality of study details would be guaranteed. Data was analyzed using paired t-test and independent t-test, and the research results demonstrated that both aroma hand massage group and regular oil hand massage group did not have a significant decrease in the cortisol level before and after the experiment. In contrast, the serotonin level decreased significantly (p= .016) in the aroma oil hand massage group and thus depression increased significantly, but the serotonin level decreased (p= .066) in the regular oil hand massage group, causing the elders’ depression to increase. It is considered that a comparative study of aroma hand massage and regular oil hand massage on depression must be performed in the future.

Nurse-delivered hand massage is a safe and effective intervention that has potential for positively affecting nursing and patient outcomes. . Nurses in a National Cancer Institute-designated academic health center outpatient chemotherapy infusion suite were taught how to administer a hand massage to strengthen the nurse-patient relationship and improve patient experience, comfort, satisfaction, stress, and anxiety. . A pre-/postimplementation group comparison design was used. Patients in both groups completed self-reported measures of stress, comfort, satisfaction, and anxiety. Nurses completed Likert-type scales pre- and postimplementation on the perceived benefits of hand massage to the patient and nursing practice, impact on patient anxiety, and preparation in providing a hand massage. . A positive trend was seen in all indicators. Patients who received a hand massage had a statistically significant improvement in comfort (p = 0.025) compared to those who did not. A statistically significant improvement was seen in all nurse indicators pre- to postimplementation.

Geriatric facility residents experience easy decrease of their quality of life (QOL) compared with elderly people cared for in their own homes owing to environmental changes. Because complementary and alternative medicine is useful to improve QOL, a simple manual for hand massage for inexperienced volunteers was developed, and the physical and psychological effects of this method were examined. Thirty-six female geriatric facility residents (mean age, 84.5 years) were chosen. They were divided into two groups: the control and hand-massaged groups. In the hand-massaged group, females received 15 min hand massage from volunteers in accordance with a simple manual. No hand massage was performed in the control group. Before and after the treatment, a survey using a questionnaire (7 items; e.g., tension, fatigue) and physiological measurements (e.g., blood pressure, hand skin temperature), and measurement of cortisol and chromogranin A levels in saliva samples using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits were carried out. Data were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the effects of group and time on the dependent variables. The hand-massaged group showed greater increases in skin temperature than the control group, as shown by ANOVA (p<.05). Results showed that improvements of the scores in the questionnaire (condition and feel-good items) were greater in the hand-massaged group than in the control group (p<.05). Cortisol level increased in the control group, but was not statistically significantly different from that in the hand-massaged group, as shown by ANOVA. Chromogranin A level was also not significantly different between the two groups. These results confirmed the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine including touching and massage found in previous studies. Hand massage prompted relaxation in geriatric facility residents in this experiment.

In order to be able to use the aroma hand massage as a skill that can be done by a nurse who does not have a special aromatherapy technique, we examine antistress effects of simplified aroma hand massage for healthy subjects. We evaluated the anti-stress action of aroma hand massage and the different components of the procedure in 20 healthy women in their twenties. We used autonomic nervous function measured via electrocardiogram as an index of stress. After conducting a baseline electrocardiogram, we induced stress in the participants by asking them to spend 30 minutes completing Kraepelin’s arithmetic test. We then administered various treatments and examined the anti-stress effects. Kraepelin’s test significantly increased sympathetic nervous function and significantly reduced parasympathetic nervous function. Compared with massage without essential oil or aroma inhalation, aroma hand massage significantly increased parasympathetic nervous function and significantly decreased sympathetic nervous function. The effect of the aroma hand massage persisted when the procedure was simplified. The anti-stress action of the aroma hand massage indicates that it might have beneficial application as a nursing technique. There are several limitations in this study; ambiguities of low component/high component ratio of heart rate variability and bias by small subjects groups of the same women.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was the comparative effects on fatigue and sleep of aroma hand massage vs. hand massage among hospice patients in a hospital. Methods: The design of this study was a nonequivalent comparison group pretest-posttest design. This study was performed from May to December 2012 in a hospice ward. A total of 30 hospice patients in a hospice ward participated in the study (17 in an aroma massage group and 13 in a massage group). The Piper Fatigue Scale was used to measure the fatigue level. The quantity of sleep was measured using sleep hours and the quality of sleep using the Verran & Snyder-Halpern sleep scale (1987). The aroma massage group used 1:1 lavender and bergamot diluted to 1% with 100 ml jojoba carrier oil. The massage group used carrier oil without an essential oil. Each treatment was performed for 10 minutes prior to the subject’s sleeping time, once a day and for 5 days. Data were analyzed using t-test, x2-test, Fisher’s exact test and the repeated measures ANOVA with the SPSS program. Results: The increase in the fatigue and decrease in the sleep quantity were lower in the aroma hand massage compared to the only hand massage but they were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The quality of sleeping improved in the aroma hand massage group compared to the control group even though it was not significant. For the further studies, assessing and respecting the patient’s aroma preference were important considerations when providing aromatherapy and the appropriation of using 1% essential oil to dilute needs to be tested for the hospice patients in the further studies

ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine the effects of hand massage on postoperative pain, and anxiety levels in liver transplant patients. MethodsThis study was a randomised clinical trial. The study sample comprised 80 adult patients who had liver transplantation: 40 experimental and 40 control group. In the experimental group, the researcher performed hand massage. No treatment was performed in the control group. To analyse the data, descriptive statistics, a chi-squared test, a t-test for dependent groups, and a t-test for independent groups were used. ResultsAccording to hand massage follow-ups after liver transplantation, the mean scores of pain intensity and anxiety levels was lower, with a statistical significance in the experimental group compared with the control group in all measurements before and after hand massage (p < 0.001). ConclusionsThe hand massage applied to liver transplant patients positively affected and decreased the severity of pain, and anxiety levels.

ObjectiveThe present study was conducted in order to determine the effects of Reiki and hand massage on the pain and fatigue of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. MethodsThis study having a randomized controlled experimental design was carried out involving 105 individuals (35 in Reiki, 37 in hand massage, and 33 in control). Study data were collected between July 2020 and December 2021 by using a personal information form, Visual Analog Scale, and Piper Fatigue Scale. ResultsThe mean pain score and the fatigue severity of patients decreased after Reiki and hand massage interventions and the difference was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). Reiki and hand massage reduced the pain and fatigue levels of patients having rheumatoid arthritis. ConclusionIt is recommended to use Reiki and hand massage in managing the symptoms and providing patients with care.