The Effects of Acupressure and Benson Relaxation Interventions on Pre- operating Anxiety in Patients Undergoing Kidney Transplantation

Kidney transplantation is one of the renal replacement therapy methods in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Anxiety is one of the most common problems of kidney transplantation patients in pre-operation.On the other hand, one of the most important ways to control anxiety is the use of complementary medicine which takes a lot of attention of researches in recent years. This study aimed to study the effects of acupressure and Benson relaxation interventions on pre- operating anxiety among the patients undergoing kidney transplantation. This clinical trial was conducted to determine anxiety level before and after intervention among 90 subjects undergoing kidney transplantation in three groups acupressure, Benson relaxation and witness. In acupressure group, massage was performed on third eye point for 10-minutes; relaxation group members were used and educated practically from headphone. Whereas in witness group no intervention was performed and only level of anxiety was determined for two times. Data collection tools were including: demographic questionnaires and self report sheet of anxiety level(0-10). No significant difference was found among the levels of anxiety before intervention in three groups. There was statistically significant reduce in anxiety level before and after intervention in acupressure and Benson relaxation groups contrast witness group(P<0.01). pre-operation anxiety is one of the nursing diagnosis that both acupressure and relaxation methods are effective for reducing anxiety. Therefore nurses can use them for reducing anxiety of the patients before operation.