The effect of therapeutic touch on level of loneliness and hopelessness in hemodialysis patients

This research was conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study to examine the effect of therapeutic touch applied to hemodialysis patients on the level of loneliness and hopelessness. The study was conducted in Osmaniye State Hospital hemodialysis unit. This study was completed with a total of 40 patients, including 20 interventions and 20 controls.Ethics committee approval, institutional permission, and written informed consent were obtained from the patients participating in the study. Data were collected using the patient identification form, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the BECK Hopelessness Scale. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, Levene, Shapiro Wilk normality test and Pearson correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. The patients in the intervention group were applied therapeutic touch for 15 minutes every other day for 3 days. No intervention was performed on the patients in the control group other than their routine care. In the study, before the therapeutic touch application, the UCLA Loneliness Scale scores of the individuals in the intervention group were 54.80±8.39, the BECK Hopelessness Scale scores were 13.05±2.89, the control group 54.80±7.99, 13.05±3.05, after the application, it was determined that the UCLA Loneliness Scale scores of the patients in the intervention group were 28.55±3.69 and the Beck Hopelessness Scale scores were 4.30±1.30, and this difference between the two groups was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). As a result, it was determined that therapeutic touch on hemodialysis patients reduced the level of loneliness and hopelessness. In line with these results, it was recommended that nurses use therapeutic touch application for patients with high levels of loneliness and hopelessness.