The effect of massage therapy on occupational stress of Intensive Care Unit nurses

Abstract

Background:One of the main causes of stress in the lives of people is their jobs. Occupational stress is causing a wide range of significant issues in health and community services. Nursing is the most stressful profession in the health services. Massage therapy is one way of coping with stress. This study was conducted to determine the effect of massage therapy on stress in nurses.Materials and Methods:This study was a clinical trial on 66 male and female nurses working in intensive care units (dialysis, ICU, and CCU) of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2013. Participants were selected according to the aims and inclusion criteria of the study. Then, they were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) (Osipow and Spokane, 1987) was completed by participants of the two groups before, immediately after, and 2 weeks after the intervention. General Swedish massage was performed on participants of the experimental group for 25 min in each session, twice a week for 4 weeks. Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics [Chi-square, t-test, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA)] using SPSS software.Results:Results showed that the difference in overall mean occupation stress scores between experimental and control groups 2 weeks after the intervention was significant (P < 0.001).Conclusions:According to the results, it is recommended that massage, as a valuable noninvasive method, be used for nurses in intensive care units to reduce their stress, promote mental health, and prevent the decrease in quality of nursing work life.

Massage therapy research review

“…Their stress hormones were lower, and they made fewer trips to their doctors after a month of massaging the infants. Although nurses may be too busy to provide massages for infants in the NICU, in at least one study, the nurses themselves were given massages to reduce their job stress [13]. In this study, the nurses were massaged for 20 min twice per week for 4 weeks.…”

Effectiveness of stress management interventional programme on occupational stress for nurses: A systematic review

“…The remaining four studies used cognitive behavioural therapy, yoga, massage therapy and relaxation techniques(Calisi, ; Fang & Li, ; Motlagh et al, ; Yousefi et al, ). About massage therapy, Yousefi and his colleagues found that Swedish massage twice a week for four weeks is effective in reducing occupational stress among nurses (Yousefi et al, ). In addition, cognitive behavioural therapy which included one hour weekly for eight weeks, resulted in a significant reduction in occupational stress level among nurses (Motlagh et al, ).…”

“…Fang et al () considered Yoga as independent stress coping strategy and found that yoga exercise was emotion focus exercise and was effective for reducing stress levels experienced by the nurses. The massage therapy was also included in this research as an effective coping strategy for reducing stress (Yousefi et al, ).…”

“…Ten studies performed by using RCTs were included in this review (Calisi, 2017;Fang & Li, 2015;Hersch et al, 2018;Klatt et al, 2012;Kubota et al, 2016;Moody et al, 2013;Motlagh et al, 2016;Singh & Jain, 2017;Yang et al, 2018;Yousefi et al, 2015).…”

“…Stress management refers to the act of developing and implementing strategies or interventions for reducing or controlling occupational stress (Happell et al, ). A range of strategies and interventions has been used for stress management, for example, mindfulness training, massage intervention and yoga (Cutshall et al, ; Fang & Li, ; Moody et al, ; Pipe et al, ; Yousefi, Mirzamohamadi, & Nazari, ). These stress management techniques increase the employees’ ability to cope with stress and thereby safeguard their resources (Krölla, Doeblerb, & Nüescha, ).…”