Comparison of the Effect of Swedish Massage and Earplugs/Eye Masks on Sleep Quality of Patients Admitted to ICUs

Background: Sleep is one of the basic physiological needs of human life. Hospitalization causes disturbances in the sleep pattern and decreases the quality of sleep. The present study aimed to compare the effect of Swedish massage and earplugs/eye masks on the quality of sleep of patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) of the teaching hospitals affiliated with Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in Zahedan, Iran, in 2022. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 40 patients admitted to the ICUs of Khatam Al-Anbia and Ali Ibne Abi-Talib hospitals in Zahedan. The participants were selected through convenience sampling from the patients who met the inclusion criteria. By using the permuted block technique with colored cards (red and yellow), the patients were placed into two Swedish massage and earplug/eye mask groups. After enrollment in the study, the patients in both groups did not receive any intervention during the first night, and their sleep quality was checked using the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) as a pre-test during the first night. The participants in both groups received the intended interventions on the second night after entering the study, and their sleep quality on the second night was measured as a post-test. The participants in the first intervention group received a Swedish massage one night for 20 minutes before bedtime in the back area (lumbar cavity to the shoulder). Moreover, the participants in the second intervention group were asked to wear earplugs and eye masks for one night from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. The collected data were analyzed using independent samples t-test, paired samples t-test, and chi-square test with SPSS software (version 26). Results: The results showed that the mean sleep quality scores for the participants in the Swedish massage group and earplug/eye mask group were 130.25 ± 41.91 and 135 ± 44.36 before the intervention, respectively. In addition, the mean sleep quality scores for the participants in the Swedish massage group and earplug/eye mask group were 202 ± 46.03 and 184.79 ± 39.5 after the intervention, respectively, showing a significant increase in the sleep quality scores for the participants in both groups after the intervention (P = 0.001). In addition, the independent samples t-test confirmed that the mean sleep quality score for the participants in the Swedish massage group was significantly higher than that of the participants in the earplug/eye mask group after the intervention (P = 0.037). Conclusions: Non-pharmacological interventions, such as Swedish massage and wearing earplugs and eye masks, can have a significant effect on increasing the sleep quality of patients admitted to the ICU. The data in this study indicated that compared to the earplug/eye mask group intervention, Swedish massage had a greater effect on improving the sleep quality of the patients. Therefore, the Swedish massage technique, which does not cause sensory restrictions similar to those of earplugs/eye masks, can be applied as an inexpensive intervention without any complications to improve patients’ sleep quality.