Effects of the hand massage and back massage on comfort and anxiety in the elderly living in nursing homes

This randomized controlled experimental study (including a pre- and post-test and a control group) was conducted to investigate the effects of the hand massage and back massage on comfort and anxiety in the elderly living in nursing homes. The study was carried out with 45 elderly people who lived in Izmir Nursing Home Elderly Care and Rehabilitation Center and Izmir Gürçeşme Zubeyde Hanım Nursing Home between October 15, 2015 and May 1, 2016, and met the sample selection criteria. The participants were assigned to the back massage (n=15), hand massage (n=15), and control (n=15) groups. To collect the data related to the participants, the "Elderly Identification Form (EIF)", "General Comfort Questionnaire (GCQ)", "State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) 'and' Vital signs Follow-up Form (VSFA) were used. The participants were followed for three days. The participants in the control group did not undergo any interventions. On the first day after the participants were randomly assigned into three groups, they were all administered EIF, GCQ, SAI and VSFA twice at 10-minute intervals. On the second and third days of the study, the participants in the control group were first administered the VSFA and 10 minutes later the GCQ, SAI and VSFA. The participants in the back massage and hand massage groups were first administered the EIF, GCQ, SAI and VSFA and after a 10-minute massage treatment, they were administered the GCQ, SAI and VSFA on the first day. On the second day, they were first administered the VSFA and after a 10-minute massage treatment, they were administered the GCQ, SAI and VSFA. On the third day, they were again first administered the VSFA and after a 10-minute massage treatment, they were administered the GCQ, SAI and VSFA. The differences between the days were analyzed with the ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA in repeated measures. In the back massage and hand massage groups, comfort and anxiety mean scores, and mean values for diastolic pressure, systolic blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate were obtained twice before and after the massage treatment, and the differences between pre- and post-massage values were analyzed with the Paired-sample t test. The intragroup differences in terms of the measurement days were analyzed with the Bonferroni and Least Significant Difference (LSD) analysis. The findings obtained from the study demonstrated that back massage and hand massage increased the comfort levels of the elderly living in nursing homes and reduced their anxiety levels, and the results were considered statistically significant (p <0.05). In line with the study findings, it is recommended that massage should be included in routine nursing healthcare activities for the elderly because it is easily learned, costs nothing, does not necessitate any invasive procedure, promotes comfort and reduces anxiety.