Effect of acupressure on fatigue in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Aim: The study was conducted to reveal the effect of acupressure on fatigue in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Materials and Method: This semi-experimental study was conducted by performing pretest-posttest and repeated measurements using an interventional and a control group at the Pulmonary Diseases Clinic of Erzincan Mengücek Gazi Training and Research Hospital between November 2015 and May 2017. The study population consisted of patients who were admitted to the said clinic with a diagnosis of COPD between August 2016 and January 2017. The study sample consisted of a total of 80 patients with COPD, 40 in the interventional group and 40 in the control group, who were hospitalized at the said clinic between the above-mentioned dates, met the study criteria, and agreed to take part in the study. The data were collected using a patient description form consisting of the socio-demographic characteristics of the patients, the COPD and Asthma Fatigue Scale and the Fatigue Severity Scale. The patients in the interventional group were administered manual acupressure 5 days a week in a total of 5 sessions. The patients in the control group were not administered any procedures other than their clinical treatments. The data were analyzed using percentages, arithmetic means, standard deviations and the Mann Whitney U, Will Coxon and Fridman tests. Results: No statistically significant difference was found between the groups with respect to the control variables of the patients included in the study and both groups were similar to each other in terms of their demographic characteristics (p>0.05). In the intergroup assessment of the interventional and control groups with respect to their mean fatigue scores, the mean fatigue score of the patients in the interventional group that underwent acupressure was found to be lower than that of the control group. In the in-group assessment of the mean fatigue scores of the interventional group and control group, the mean fatigue score of the interventional group was found to be lower than that of the control group. In the inter- and in-group assessments of the mean VAS fatigue scores of the patients in the interventional and control groups, the mean VAS fatigue score of the patients in the interventional group was found to be lower than that of the patients in the control group in all VAS measurements. Conclusion: The acupressure procedure was found effective in reducing fatigue in subjects with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. As one of the supplementary and alternative treatment methods, acupressure can be used as a nursing intervention to reduce fatigue. Keywords: Acupressure, nursing, COPD, fatigue