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The Effects of Foot Reflexology on Sleep, Depression and Skin Temperature of the Female Elderly at Home

Article information

Res Community Public Health Nurs. 2011;22(4):409-419
Publication date (electronic) : 2014 April 04
doi : https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2011.22.4.409
Chung Soon Kim1, Se Hwa Hong2, Se Ryeong Kim3, Yeo Jin Kim4
1Visiting Nurse, Ilsan Donggu Community Health Center, Korea.
2Part-time Instructor, College of Nursing, Chonbuk National University, Korea.
3Charge Nurse, Presbyterian Medical Center, Korea.
4Nurse, Chonbuk National Universty Hospital, Korea.
Address reprint requests to: Hong, Se Hwa, College of Nursing, Chonbuk National University, San 2-20 Geumam-dong, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeonllabuk-do 561-180, Korea. Tel: 82-63-270-3104, Fax: 82-63-270-3127, withholy@paran.com
Received 2011 September 28; Revised 2011 December 07; Accepted 2011 December 10.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of foot reflexology on sleep, depression and skin temperature of the female elderly at home.

Methods

This research used the non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were 45 elders residing at home: 23 in the experimental group and 22 in the control group. The experimental group received 30-minute foot reflexology 8 times for 2 weeks. The results were analyzed using χ2 test, t-test with the SPSS/WIN 12.0 program.

Results

The results showed that foot reflexology was significantly effective in improving the quality of sleep, reducing depression, and raising the temperature of both feet. However, the temperature of both palms was not statistically significantly different between the two groups.

Conclusion

The results of this study indicated that foot reflexology is an effective nursing intervention in improving the quality of sleep, reducing depression, and raising the temperature of both feet. Therefore, it is recommended to use foot reflexology as a complementary nursing intervention for elderly women at home in community.

Keywords: Reflexology; Elderly; Sleep; Depression; Skin temperature

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Article information Continued

© 2011 Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Figure 1

Figure 1

Research design.

Table 1

Homogenesity Test of General Characteristics (N=45)

Table 1

Exp.=experimental group; Cont.=control group.

†Fisher's exact test.

Table 2

Homogenesity Test of Dependent Variables (N=45)

Table 2

Exp.=experimental group; Cont.=control group.

Table 3

Effect of Foot Reflexology Massage on Sleep (N=45)

Table 3

Exp.=experimental group; Cont.=control group.

Table 4

Effect of Foot Reflexology Massage on Depression (N=45)

Table 4

Exp.=experimental group; Cont.=control group.

Table 5

Effect of Foot Reflexology Massage on Skin Temperature (N=45)

Table 5

Exp.=experimental group; Cont.=control group.