The Effect of the therapeutic touch on preoperative anxiety in women with elective surgeries

In spite of the fact that people are increasingly interested in complementary medicine and therapeutic touch, we still need further investigation to prove the advantages and mechanism of their effect on patients. This single blind-randomized two-group clinical trial carried out to determine the effect of the therapeutic touch on preoperative anxiety. This study was performed in Shahid Mohammadi hospital in Bandar abbas city in 2004. 46 subjects consist of the women 18-70 years aged, were selected based on the repeated measure Mixed Design and were divided into two groups, (experimental and control). The patients’ anxiety was assessed at night before the operation, before and after the introducing of the real therapeutic touch in experimental group and unreal therapeutic touch in control group, using interview and Beck Anxiety Questionnaire. Then data were analyzed using SPSS 11. 5 and the repeated measure Mixed Design. The average differences of scores of both groups before and after the interference of therapeutic touch were compared. The factor of time and the type of interference had interaction with each other. Therefore, the results were interpreted, using only independent t-test. Significant reduction of anxiety (p v<0. 001) was observed in experimental group compared to control one. It means that in experimental group, anxiety level reduced more than control group. Therapeutic touch can affect on decrease of preoperative anxiety. Hence we recommended introducing a course in therapeutic touch for the nursing students so that they can use it in their nursing practice.