The effect of neuro-linguistics programming and practice of the guided imagery on pain and comfort after open heart surgery

Objective: This research was carried out with the aim of investigating the effect of neuro-linguistic programming and guided imagery on pain and comfort after open heart surgery. Materials and Method: This is a prospective randomized single-blind clinical trial. The universe of this study; formed byall adult patients who were hospitalized in Cardiovascular Surgery Department of City Hospital and who had open heart surgery Sample of the research; The patients who met the research criterion were analyzed by power analysis with 0.4 effect size, 0.05 error, 0.95 confidence interval, 0.95 universe representation power. The sample size designated as a 3 group.44 patients with neuro-linguistic programming, 44 with guided imagery and 44 with control group. Data were collected between September 2017 and May 2018 with patient introduction form, Visual Analog Scala, Perianesthesia Comfort Scale and General Comfort Scale. Neuro-linguistic programming was applied for 30 minutes with new behavior creation and guided imagery was appliedwith compact disc for a 30 minutes. Data analysis; Descriptive statics, paired t test chi-square, one way analysis of variance, Dunn multiple comparison tests, Kruskal Wallis, Wilcoxon tests were used. Findings: After surgery, before carrying out any attempt, no significant difference was observed between pain and comfort levels of patients (p>0.05). After the attempt; pain level of the patients whose applied neuro-linguistic programming, was significantly lower than the guided imagery and control groups (p<0.005). It was determined that the comfort level of the group whose applied guided imagery was significantly higher than the neuro-linguistic programming and Control group patients (p<0.005). Conclusion: After open heart surgery, it is determined that Practises of NLP and guided imagery reduced the pain and increased the comfort. Abstract: Open Heart Surgery, Nursing, NLP, Gİ, Postopetatif Pain, Comfort