Reducing anxiety: the employment of Therapeutic Touch as a nursing intervention (original) (raw)
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Experiences of administering and receiving therapeutic touch in intensive care
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 1999
This article describes the experiences of a practitioner who administered therapeutic touch (IT) to two patients in an intensive care unit and the experiences of the two patients who received TT. The experiences are presented as two case studies. Each ofthe patients presented in the case studies received either five or ten treatments of TT lasting five minutes each. Following each administration of TT the practitioner described what she sensed verbally and in writing. However, owing to the medical conditions of the patients, only brief interviews were conducted in which the patients were asked to describe their experiences of receiving IT. The experiences, which have been reflected in the case studies, indicate TT assists patients to relax, brings comfort and a sense of peace. Much like meditation, TT helps patients become more in touch with themselves. They come to understand more about themselves and reality. TT is recommended as a practice which could contribute to the psychological well-being of patients in intensive care as it promotes relaxation, comfort and a sense of peace.
A pilot feasibility study of the effects of touch therapy on nurses
The Journal of the New York State Nurses' Association
The White House Commission on Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) has recommended that safe and effective CAM practices be evaluated to determine their role in maintaining wellness and promoting health. There is little research on individual bodywork/energy therapies and their effects on wellness. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the effect of AMMA treatments on relaxation and anxiety in staff nurses, and to examine themes describing the nurses' experiences. It was hypothesized that nurses receiving AMMA treatments would demonstrate reduced anxiety, as measured by a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and increased relaxation, measured by physiologic parameters. The study was designed as a prospective, randomized, blinded clinical trial, with convenience sampling of 24 nurses working 12-hour shifts. While both groups demonstrated decreased anxiety after intervention, the experimental group consistently showed greater differences between pre- and post-treatment anxiety sc...
Healing touch influences a individuals bodily or emotional strength devoid of everyone physically touching the individual. The use of touch is a universal practice. Touch is connected to devout or vigor in healing, salutary touch, and secluded curing. Touch was introduced in the 70's, nurses began to incorporate and develop a detailed organization of an increasing phenomenon of curative touch called therapeutic touch to bestow a new holistic, empathetic method during the healing process. Many nursing schools in the United States adapted the methods in which they incorporate the use of therapeutic touch, and it is often now used in conventional medical settings to help comfort patients. "Central to healing touch is the belief that a essential energy or life force flows freely through space and sustains all living organisms" (Jamiet,2012). In a healthy person, this energy is thought to flow in and away from the body in a reasonable or unbalanced way. The thought is that illness results when the power surge is in a realm of unsteadiness. This paper will give an epigrammatic and succinct fundamental viewpoint on how the concept analysis of healing touch in patient management, through a synopsis of philosophy and theory intertwined throughout the profession of nursing while allocating for a continued improvement, and acceptance of the profession, opening doorways to alternative methods of the healing practice.
Physiologic andpsychodynamic responses to the administration of therapeutic touch in critical care
Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 1999
Recent publications have questioned the efficacy of therapeutic touch (TT). The focus of attention has been on substantiating the existence of the recipient's energy field rather than on the physiologic and psychodynamic responses to TT. In this article the physiologic and psychodynamic responses during and following the administration of TT is described. The project involved the implementation ofatime series design in which the physiologic and psychodynamic responses were measured. It is acknowledged that critical care environments are stressful for patients in terms of invasive medical and nursing procedures. Continuous bright lighting, and excessive noise prohibits the potential for relaxation and sleep. Within this context, the control of confounding variables was not possible, and therefore not an object of concern in the study. Rather the responses to TT in the natural setting were of importance to discern. Statistical repeated measures analysis of variance (one way) indicated there was no significant difference between pre-, during and post-physiologic variables in response to TT. However psychodynamic responses demonstrated significant correlation's in terms of relaxation and sleep. The non significance of physiologic change in variables pre-, during and post-administration of TT indicates critically ill patients remained physiologically stable. Significant correlations of psychodynamic responses demonstrated it is possible for critically ill patients to experience periods of relaxation and sleep in an otherwise stressful environment. TT was found to be a useful therapy to enhance relaxation and sleep in critically ill patients.
A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch
JAMA, 1998
Contact me when this article is cited. This article has been cited 95 times. Topic collections Contact me when new articles are published in these topic areas. Nursing Care Related Letters. 1999;282(2):135. JAMA Rebecca M. Good et al.
The Nurses' Touch: An Irreplaceable Component of Caring
Nursing Open, 2023
Touch is an integral part of human interaction; it is manifested relationally, socially, culturally, and professionally (Cekaite & Goodwin, 2021). Touching, and concurrently being touched by another person, is an essential aspect of being human (Heatley Tejada et al., 2020). Context and culture also influence the experience of interpersonal touch (Sorokowska et al., 2021) which is important in consideration of healthcare. Healthcare makes significant use of touch, and for most healthcare professionals, it is indispensable to their practice (Cahan et al., 2020). Touching patients during the provision of care is a significant and necessary facet of the profession of nursing (De Luca et al., 2022).
Interpersonal touch interventions for patients in intensive care: A designâoriented realist review
Nursing Open
Pain and distress have been linked to the development of agitation and delirium (Reade & Finfer, 2014), posttraumatic stress disorder (Morrissey & Collier, 2016) and chronic pain after ICU discharge (Papathanassoglou, 2014). High stress levels may also contribute directly towards pathophysiological sequelae through the release of neuropeptides (Papathanassoglou et al., 2010). Analgesics and sedatives are important in managing patient distress (Grounds et al., 2014). However, pharmacological side effects, such as reduced consciousness and brain dysfunction (Reade & Finfer, 2014), can prolong mechanical ventilation, thereby increasing risks of mortality and morbidity (Jackson, Proudfoot, Cann, & Walsh, 2010). In contrast, integrative therapies such as interpersonal touch may promote calm alertness and are relatively safe (Field et al.,
Variables of Individual Difference and the Experience of Touch in Nursing
Western Journal of Nursing Research, 2017
We aim to investigate nurses' feelings of comfort or discomfort with three different types of touch: task-oriented contact, touch promoting physical comfort, and touch providing emotional containment. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 198 nurses. We present results of multiple regression analysis identifying some antecedents of nurses' feelings of comfort with touch, namely, attachment style, worry, gender, and length of service. Worry is negatively associated with task-oriented contact and touch promoting physical comfort. Attachment security and length of service are associated with comfort with touch aimed at emotional containment; female nurses feel more comfortable than male nurses in performing this type of touch. Practical implications of findings are discussed in relation to the promotion of focused training courses for practitioners who are willing to improve the quality of care services.
Therapeutic Touch efficacy: A Systematic Review
Medical-Surgical Nursing Journal, 2017
1.Associate Professor, Department of Critical Care Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2.Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3.MSc in Midwifery, Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 4.MSc in Nursing, Department of Nursing, Meybod School of Nursing, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran 5.MSc in Medical-Surgical Nursing, Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Science, Isfahan, Iran 6.PhD Student in Nursing, Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 7.PhD Student in Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Reproductive Health, Reproductive Epidemiology Research Center, Royan ...
(1979) Multidimensional Reaction to Therapeutic Touch in a Hospital Setting
A field experiment focused on some implications of interpersonal touch not explored in earlier research. Conceptually, the research included measuring the effects of touch over a relatively long time frame, for a broad range of response dimensions, and in a nonreactive setting characterized by dependency. On an applied level, the research studied the value of touch as a concomitant of nursepatient interactions. Specifically, a 2 (touch vs. no touch) X 2 (male vs. female) between-subjects design assessed the effects of nurses touching patients, during preoperative teaching, on patient affective, evaluative, behavioral, and physiological responses. Results indicated that female subjects in the touch condition experienced more favorable affective, behavioral, and physiological reactions than a no-touch control group. In contrast, males in the touch condition reacted more negatively than control subjects on these dimensions.