The effect of hand massage before cataract operation on patient anxiety and comfort

Aim: A randomized controlled study was planned and conducted with the aim of determining the effect of hand massage performed before a cataract operation on patients' anxiety and comfort. Materials and Methods: The research sample consisted of 140 individuals, 70 in the intervention group and 70 controls, who were admitted to Celal Bayar University Hafsa Sultan Hospital for a cataract operation between 2 February and 2 November 2015, and who conformed to the criteria. Approval was obtained before the study from the ethics committee and from the patients. Data collection was by face-to-face interview using a personal information form, a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to determine comfort, and the Spielberg State-Continuous Anxiety Scale. The anxiety of both the intervention and the control groups was measured before the operation in the patient's room using the Spielberg Scale. Patients in the intervention group received ten minutes of hand massage before the operation, while the control group received only routine procedures. VAS-comfort, vital signs and the Spielberg Scale were measured and recorded from the intervention group patients before the operation in the patient's room, after hand massage, and after the operation in the patient's room, and from the control group patients before the operation in the patient's room, immediately before the operation, and after the operation in the patient's room. In analysis of the data, identifying statistics, Chi square, Fisher's exact chi square test, Mann Whitney U test, Wilcoxon signed rank test and Friedman test were used. Findings: The mean score of the intervention group patients after hand massage for VAS-comfort was 3.32±1.93, while that of the control group was 7.85±1.88, and the mean score of the intervention group patients after hand massage for Spielberg State Anxiety was 46.26±2.65, while that of the control group was 57.43±3.07. No significant difference was found between the Spielberg Continuous Anxiety scores of the two groups (p>0.05). In patients in the intervention group, a reduction was seen after hand massage in comparison with the control group in pulse and breathing rates and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, but not in oxygen saturation. Conclusions: It was seen in the results of the study that hand massage applied before the operation lowered patients' anxiety, affected vital signs positively and increased patient comfort. It is recommended that hand massage should be applied before cataract operations, or other operations to be conducted with local anesthesia. Keywords: cataract operation, hand massage, anxiety, patient comfort