The effect of nursing care based on Kolcaba's comfort theory on the comfort, satisfaction and sleep quality of intensive care patients

The study was carried out in an experimental design type with a pre-test, post-test, and control group in order to examine the effect of nursing care based on Kolcaba's Comfort Theory on the comfort, satisfaction, and sleep quality of intensive care patients. The population of the study consisted of 278 patients who were admitted to the coronary intensive care unit in the university hospital where the study was to be conducted between the dates of the study, and the sample consisted of a total of 80 patients, 40 experimental and 40 control groups, who accepted to participate in the study between April 2023 and July 2023. Data were collected using the Patient Information Form, General Comfort Questionaire (GCQ), Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale (NSNS), Richard-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ), and Comfort Behavior Checklist (CBC). Patients in the experimental group received nursing care based on Kolcaba's Comfort Theory during their stay in the intensive care unit. In this direction, comfort-oriented care requirements were taken as a guide and individualised care plans were prepared with intensive care nurses in order to ensure that the patient reached the goals/expected results. Patients in the control group received routine (usual) care by intensive care nurses. The SPSS 26 programme was used for statistical analyses. The experimental and control groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic and disease characteristics, and there was no significant difference between the groups in terms of pre-test GCQ, NSNS, CBC, RCSQ, and pain level mean scores. Compared to the pre-test evaluation of the experimental group, it was found that the increase in the post-test GCQ total and sub-dimension scores was high (p<0.001); the post-test NSNS total scores increased (p<0.001); the post-test RCSQ total scores increased (p<0.001); and the post-test CBC total scores increased (p<0.001). It was found that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the levels of GCQ, NSNS, CBC, RCSQ, and pain (p<0.001). There was also a significant difference between the post-test mean scores of the experimental group (p<0.001), and the individuals in the experimental group had lower pain level scores than those in the control group. In conclusion, nursing care based on the Kolcaba Comfort Theory had a positive effect on the comfort, satisfaction, and sleep quality of intensive care patients.