The impact of foot massage given to postmenopausal women on anxiety, fatigue, and sleep: a randomized-controlled trial
Nilay Gökbulut, Emine İbici Akça, Çiğdem KARAKAYALI AY
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the impact of foot massage given to postmenopausal women on anxiety, fatigue, and sleep. METHODS: This randomized-controlled study was conducted with 70 women (35 experimental, 35 control) who resided in a village located in Northern Turkey. In the study, the women in the experimental group were given foot massage once every day for 7 days. No intervention was applied to the women in the control group. The data were collected using a Personal Information Form, the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage distribution, median, and Q1-Q3), χ 2 test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon test were used in the analysis of the data. RESULTS: It was found that the women in the control group had lower pretest BAI scores than those in the experimental group ( P < 0.05), whereas before the foot massage intervention, the women in the experimental and control groups had similar FSS scores and sleep hours ( P > 0.05). After the foot massage, the FSS scores were 2.3 (1.6-3.4) in the experimental group and 5.5 (4.6-6.2) in the control group, the BAI scores were 26.0 (23.0-29.0) in the experimental group and 36.0 (31.0-43.0) in the control group, the daily sleep hours were 8.0 (8.0-10.0) in the experimental group and 7.0 (6.0-8.0) in the control group, and the differences between the groups were statistically significant ( P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: It was determined that foot massage applied during menopause increases the average daily sleep duration (hours) and reduces women's fatigue and anxiety levels.