A study to assess the effectiveness of back massage on reduction of pain and anxiety among patients with stroke at selected hospital, Madurai

A study to assess the effectiveness of Back Massage on reduction of Pain and Anxiety among patients with stroke at selected Hospital, Madurai, was conducted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award a degree in Master of science in nursing under the Tamilnadu Dr.M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai. The research design was quasi experimental design. Sample size was 60, purposive sampling technique was used to select the samples. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the pre and post test level of pain and anxiety among patients with stroke in experimental group. 2. To assess the pre and post test level of pain and anxiety and among patients with stroke in control group. 3. To evaluate the effectiveness of back massage on reducing pain and anxiety among patients with stroke in experimental group. 4. To find out the relationship between post test level of pain and anxiety among patients with stroke in experimental group. 5. To find out the association between post test level of pain with their selected demographic variables in experimental group. 6. To find out the association between post test level of anxiety with their selected demographic variables in experimental group. The conceptual framework adopted for this study was based on modified Ludwig von bertanlanffy’s general system model (1968). HYPOTHESES: H1: Mean post test level of pain and anxiety will be significantly lower than pre test level of pain and anxiety in experimental group. H2: Mean post test level of pain and anxiety among experimental group will be significantly lower than control group. H3: There will be a significant relationship between post test level of pain and anxiety among experimental group. H4: There will be a significant association between post test level of pain and anxiety and their selected demographic variables in experimental group. MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY: • With regard to age, 43.3% subjects were between 41-60 and above 60 years in the experimental group and 66.6% subjects were between 41-60 years of age in the control group. • With regard to sex, in the experimental group 53.3% subjects were males and 50% subjects were males in the control group. • Regarding the educational status 9 (30%) subjects had higher secondary education in the experimental group and 10 (33.3%) subjects had primary education in the control group. • Regarding the occupation in the experimental group 17 (56.6%) subjects were sedentary workers and in the control group 20 (66.6%) were sedentary workers. • Regarding the family income, majority of samples 13 (43.3%) were getting an income between Rs. 1001-5000 in the experimental group and 13 (43.3%) samples were getting Rs. 1001-5000 in the control group. • Regarding the duration of illness 20 (66.6%) subjects were less than 2 yrs of duration in the experimental group and 9 (30%) were having 2-5 yrs of duration in the control group. • Regarding the type of family in the experimental group 17(53.3%) subjects belong to nuclear family and in the control group 20 (66.6%) subjects belong to nuclear family. • Regarding the family history of stroke 19 (63.3%) had the history of stroke among experimental group and 22 (73.3%) had the history of stroke among control group. • Regarding the hospitalization, in the experimental group 20(66.6%) subjects had the experience of previous hospitalization and in the control group 20(66.6%) subjects had the experience of previous hospitalization. • The mean post-test level of pain (5.03) which is lower than (7.1) the pre test level of pain in the experimental group. • The mean post-test level of anxiety (62.93) was lower than the mean pre-test level of anxiety (75.63) in the experimental group. • There was a significant association between post-test level of pain and education among experimental group. • There was a significant association between post test level of anxiety and income, occupation, education among experimental group. RECOMMENDATIONS: • The study may be conducted by using large populations to generalize the findings. • A longitudinal study may be conducted to assess the effectiveness of back massage on reducing pain and anxiety among stroke patients. • This study may also be done as a comparative study in different settings. • Nurse researcher has to identify the effects of back massage among patients with orthopaedic conditions. • The effectiveness of back massage on reducing physiological parameters such as temperature, blood pressure, heart rate could be studied. CONCLUSION: As for this research is concerned, the interventional study proved that there is a significant reduction on pain and anxiety level among patients with stroke. The findings of the present study agree with the findings of the previous clinical study, regarding back massage. The pre-test and post-test mean and standard deviation were calculated. The paired ‘t’ test was applied to identify the effectiveness. The reduction of pain and anxiety level was statistically significant at 0.05 level. Therefore the back massage is a very effective non-pharmacological intervention to reduce the pain and anxiety among stroke patients.