Effect of Footbath on Pain Severity and Sleep Quality
Condition: Foot; Sleep; Pain
MeSH terms: Pain
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the effect of hot water foot bath on the
      patients' pain severity and sleep quality levels on the night of the lumbar degenerative disc
      surgery. The main hypotheses are:

        -  H1=Pain severity of the patients who applied footbath is lower than the patients who did
           not.

        -  H2=The sleep quality of the patients who applied footbath is higher than the patients
           who did not.

      Participants will be asked to keep their feet in 42oC hot water for 20 minutes on the night
      of the day of surgery.

      If there is a comparison group: Researchers will compare control group to see if there is any
      difference on the pain severity and sleep quality of the patients.
    

Detailed description: 
      Group allocation of the patients was done through using Random Allocation Software program
      and patients were allocated into two groups: the intervention group and the control group.

      Patients in the intervention group were asked to take a footbath in 42oC water for 20-minutes
      in the evening of the surgery day.

      The nurse researcher visited the patients in the morning of the surgery day in their service
      room, asked to rate their current pain severity score between 0 - 10 points, and asked to
      rate the sleep quality scale items between 0 - 100 points according to their previous night
      sleep. The patients in the intervention group were informed that they were going to be
      visited to perform the footbath in the evening before they go asleep, and the patients in the
      control group were informed that they were going to be visited in the next morning.

      In the evening of the surgery day, the nurse researcher visited the patients in their service
      room and explained footbath procedure to the patients, following, filled the foot tub with
      hot water to approximately 20 cm above the patients' ankle and measured the temperature of
      the water with using a water thermometer. When the temperature was stable at 42oC, the
      patients were asked to sit in semi-fowler position in the bed and to immerse their feet in
      the foot tub without washing or any massage for 20-minutes. During the footbath, the upper
      side of the foot tub was covered with a towel to prevent temperature loss by vaporizing and
      the researcher stayed in the room to observe the patient according to any unwanted events
      such as sweating, having pain, feeling hot or bad etc. At the end of the footbath procedure,
      feet of the patients were dried with a towel and checked for any redness. Then, the
      researcher helped patients to wear their socks to keep the feet warm and measured the final
      temperature of the water. Finally, the patients were informed that they were going to be
      visited in the morning.

      The standard procedure is pharmacological pain management following the surgery as explained
      under the study setting title to decrease the pain severity, consequently, to improve the
      sleep quality, and this standard procedure was used for each group. Footbath was not applied
      to the patients in the control group.

      Patients in both study groups were visited by the nurse researcher in the morning of the
      postoperative day in their service room, asked to rate their current pain severity score
      between 0 - 10 points, and asked to rate the sleep quality scale items between 0 - 100 points
      according to their previous night sleep.
    

Intervention name(s): Hot water foot bath
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): Keeping keep in 42oC (42 Degrees Celsius) hot water for 20 minutes
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care
Keywords: Footbath; Perioperative nursing; Post-operative pain; Sleep quality