Effects of touch on anxiety levels in coronary care patients

Date

1986-05

Authors

Chen, Grace

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Abstract

The purpose of this experimental study was to determine the effects of touch on anxiety levels of patients in a Coronary Care Unit (CCU). Forty five CCU patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: expressive touch, instrumental touch, and no touch. Double blind procedures were carried out for data collection. The psychological effect of touch was measured using the Modified Self-Report Questionnaire. The physiological effects of touch, including the heart rate and the number of ectopic beats, were measured through the cardiac monitoring system. Both analysis of variance with repeated measurements and analysis of covariance were used for inferential data analysis.

The results indicated that expressive touch significantly reduced the anxiety levels of patients in the CCU. In addition, patients receiving expressive touch had significantly lower posttreatment anxiety levels than patients receiving instrumental touch or no touch.

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Keywords

Therapeutic touch, Touch and patient communication, Coronary care patients, Psychological effects, Physiological effects

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