The Effect of Foot Massage on Stress in Student Nurses in Clinical Practice

Won, Jong Soon; Kim, Keum Soon; Kim, Kyung Hee; Kim, Won Ock; Yu, Jae Hee; Jo, Hyun Sook; Jeong, Ihn Sook

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of foot massage on the stress of student nurses in clinical practice. The research design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The subjects of this study were 52 student nurses from three junior colleges and one university. The subjects were assigned to one of two groups:the experimental group(26 students), and the control group(26 students). The study was conducted from October to November 1999. For the experimental group the foot massage was performed once a day for 3 days, starting from the first day of clinical practice. Subjects' mood, fatigue, blood pressure and pulse rate were measured as dependent variables. The Instrument for mood and fatigue state was a 100mm visual analogue scale. For the experimental group pre and post tests were done just before and after every 3 foot massages and on the 7th clinical practice day. For the control group pretest was done on 1st clinical day and posttest was done on clinical practice 7th day. The data was analyzed by the t-test and paired t-test and the results are summarized as follows: 1. The mood state scores were significantly higher for the experimental group as compared to the control group after the foot massage(t=13.73, p<0.001). 2. The fatigue state scores were significantly lower for the experimental group as compared to the control group after the foot massage(t=8.69, p<0.001). 3. The systolic blood pressure was significantly different between the experimental group and the control group after the foot massage(t=3.0073, p<0.01). 4. The diastolic blood pressure was not significantly different between the experiment group and the control group after the foot massage. 5. The pulse rate was not significantly different between the experiment group and the control group after foot massage. 6. The mood state scores on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd massage day was significantly improved right after the foot massage. 7. The fatigue state scores on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd massage day were significantly lower right after the foot massage. 8. Systolic blood pressure on the 1st and 2nd massage day was significantly decreased right after the foot massage. Diastolic blood pressure and pulse rate were decreased right after massage but the change was not statistically significant. On the basis of the above findings, this study suggests that foot massage can be an effective stress relieving method for student nurses in clinical practice.