Effect of a Brief Seated Massage on Nursing Student Attitudes Toward Touch for Comfort Care

Abstract

Background: While massage has been removed from nursing curricula, studies have reported massage as safe and effective for stress reduction, relaxation, pain relief, fatigue, and quality of life. Objective: To compare the efficacy of two intensities of touch administered during two seated massages on the attitudes of nursing students toward touch for their self-care and patient care. Participants: Nursing students who volunteered gave institutional review board-approved written informed consent to undergo massage by a licensed massage therapist. Settings/location: A private room adjacent to the nursing lab in a school of nursing. Intervention: Brief seated massages of differing intensities. Each participant received low-intensity and highintensity touch in a two-block, randomized order, within-subjects design. Linear mixed models nested within subject and random intercept analyses were used to test hypotheses in this two-treatment, two-sequence, twoperiod crossover design. Outcome measures: Health questionnaires/visual analogue scales pertaining to physical/affective/and attitudinal status were completed before and after each massage. Results: Twenty-nine participants (93% female, 83% single) completed the study. Before massage, the optimal intensity of touch anticipated for self-comfort was 6.6 (0 = no pressure;10 = most intense pressure imaginable). The mean touch intensities were 6.7 for high-intensity massage and 0.5 for low-intensity ( p < 0.001). The overall percentage differences (feeling better or worse) following massage were as follows: low intensity, 37.5% better; high intensity, 62.7% better ( p < 0.001). Significantly more improvement was reported for energy, pain, stress, and feeling physically uptight after high-intensity compared with low-intensity ( p < 0.03). Participants were more likely to both receive touch for self-care and provide touch for patient care after experiencing high-versus low-intensity massage ( p < 0.01). Conclusions: High-intensity seated massage was more efficacious than low-intensity massage and positively influenced nursing student attitudes toward the inclusion of massage in self-care/patient care. The role of touch for self-care/patient care in the nursing curricula merits reconsideration.

The effectiveness of aromatherapy and massage on stress management in nurses: A systematic review

“…Turkeltaub et al. () compared the efficacy of two intensities of touch administered during two‐seated massages on the physical and effective dimensions measured. The result showed that stress was significantly improved after high‐intensity massage compared with low‐intensity massage.…”

“…Studies have identified that massage relieves anxiety and stress (Jung, Choi, Kang, & Choi, ; Saatsaz, Rezaei, Alipour, & Beheshti, ). Significant improvement has been reported for stress levels after high‐intensity massage (Turkeltaub, Yearwood, & Friedmann, ). The mechanism of massage is related to the stimulation of stress receptors, which can raise vagal activity and decrease cortisol levels (Field, ; Wu et al., ).…”

The Effectiveness of Oxytocin and Marmet Massage on Increased Prolactin Hormone for Smooth Breastfeeding in Postpartum Mothers in Langsa City Health Office, Indonesia

“…One effort to increase the prolactin hormone was with massage techniques. Massage techniques have been used by various communities in the world for medicine and health [7], [8], [9]. Efforts to stimulate the hormone prolactin and oxytocin in mothers after childbirth can be done with oxytocin massage [10].…”

Examining stress and coping: Program improvements of pre-licensure nursing students

“…[12] With an eye to retaining nurses and nurse trainees, there is growing professional interest in assessing and assuring their well-being. [10,[13][14][15][16][17][18] as well as providing tools for self-management. Therapies that have been de-scribed include: art expressive therapy, [10] self-care, leveraging the "protective nature of inner resources" [18] and massage therapy.…”

“…Therapies that have been de-scribed include: art expressive therapy, [10] self-care, leveraging the "protective nature of inner resources" [18] and massage therapy. [17] Additionally, there is a movement towards the growth and formalization of "Self-Care" curricula in nursing education at all levels [13,14] with multi-level programs for students that focus on healthy eating, stress management and support-seeking. Considering the literature surrounding novice nursing students, the investigators wanted to identify the underlying cause of student illness during first semester clinical and identify the coping mechanisms surrounding this phenomenon.…”