The Effect of Foot Reflexology in Intensive Care Nurses

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study was planned as a randomized controlled experimental research design to examine the effect of foot reflexology applied to nurses working in the intensive care unit on stress, fatigue and low back pain.

Detailed Description
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The universe of the research consisted of a total of 90 nurses working in a university and a public hospital in a city. Among the nurses, those who meet the criteria for inclusion in the study will form the sample. Assignment to the intervention and control group will be determined in the computer environment using a simple randomization method (www.randomizer.org/). The number of samples was determined using power analysis. It was decided to recruit a total of 42 nurses, 21 for each group.

Official Title
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The Effect of Foot Reflexology on Stress, Fatigue and Low Back Pain in Intensive Care Nurses

Conditions
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Fatigue, Pain, Stress, Nurse

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: massage


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: -Intensive care unit nurse Those aged 18 to 65 years Working in intensive care for at least 6 months Back pain for at least 3 months Not pregnant, non-breastfeeding Having a regular menstrual cycle Vascular disease and foot fracture, wound, scar, skin damage etc. no situation Volunteered to participate in the research Not using antidepressants, sleeping pills, etc. Exclusion Criteria: Working in intensive care for less than 6 months No chronic low back pain Pregnant, lactating Do not have a regular menstrual cycle Vascular disease and foot fracture, wound, scar, skin damage etc. situation found Using antidepressants, sleeping pills, etc.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Intervention group (reflexology group)<br>The group in which reflexology massage (foot massage) was applied once a week for 20 minutes (10 minutes on each foot) for a total of 4 weeks, and the pain scale and fatigue and stress level were measured once a week at the beginning of the study and at the end of the study 4 weeks later. | Behavioral: massage<br>* reflexology foot massage<br>|
| No Intervention: Control group<br>Pain scale once a week for 4 weeks without any application, and fatigue and stress level at the beginning of the study and at the end of the study after 4 weeks were measured in the group. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| pain severity | measurement of nurses' low back pain severity score A Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is one of the pain rating scales. VAS pain score is evaluated as painless (score=0) and worst pain (score=10). score <3 mild pain, 3-6 mild-to-moderate pain, and >6 moderate-to-severe pain | pre test | 
| fatique | The fatigue severity scale There are 9 questions in the scale and each question consists of 7 points. An increase in the scale score indicates an increase in the level of fatigue. The scale determines the fatigue status of individuals in the last 1 month. Questions are scored as I totally disagree (1)- I totally agree. If the average score is 5 and above, it is considered as fatigue. | pre test | 
| stress | Perceived Stress Scale ; There are 14 items in the scale, which was developed as a five-point Likert-type rating scale. The scale consists of never (0), almost never (1), sometimes (2), often (3) very often (4). The lowest and highest scores a participant can obtain from this scale are 0 and 56, respectively. | pre test | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| pain severity | measurement of nurses' low back pain severity score A Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is one of the pain rating scales. VAS pain score is evaluated as painless (score=0) and worst pain (score=10). score <3 mild pain, 3-6 mild-to-moderate pain, and >6 moderate-to-severe pain | post test(at the end of the 4th week) | 
| fatique | The fatigue severity scale There are 9 questions in the scale and each question consists of 7 points. An increase in the scale score indicates an increase in the level of fatigue. The scale determines the fatigue status of individuals in the last 1 month. Questions are scored as I totally disagree (1)- I totally agree. If the average score is 5 and above, it is considered as fatigue. | post test (at the end of the 4th week) | 
| stress | Perceived Stress Scale ; There are 14 items in the scale, which was developed as a five-point Likert-type rating scale. The scale consists of never (0), almost never (1), sometimes (2), often (3) very often (4). The lowest and highest scores a participant can obtain from this scale are 0 and 56, respectively. | post test(at the end of the 4th week) |