Caring Touch as a Bodily Anchor for Patients After Sustaining a Motor Vehicle Accident

NCT02610205 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: Touch-ED
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 41
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

The aim of this study was to explore participants´ subjective experiences and perspectives on pain and other factors of importance after an early nursing intervention consisting of "caring touch" (tactile massage and healing touch) for participants subjected to a motor vehicle accident with minor or no physical injuries.

Conditions

Emergency

Keywords

Caring touch; Tactile massage; Healing touch

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Qualitative interviews

  The interviews, which lasted up to 60 minutes, were conducted in Swedish, digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim by the investigator. An open-ended question was used to initiate the interviews. The interviews were analysed using Systematic Text Condensation (STC), based on Giorgi's psychological phenomenological analysis. The procedure consisted of the following steps: 1) An overview of the data was established, reading through all the interview transcripts; 2) A systematic review of the interviews was made line by line, identifying and sorting meaning units; 3) Meaning units were systematically abstracted and sorted into thematic code groups across individual participants; 4) data was synthesized from the thematic code groups to descriptions and concepts.

  Three months after inclusion

• Visual analogue scale (VAS)

  The quantitative primary outcome was current level of pain measured by VAS, ranging from 0 (no pain) to 100 (worst imaginable pain). Participants rated their current VAS pain at baseline during the initial visit and before and after each treatment session with caring touch, and then again via a postal follow-up after six months. The VAS is a standard instrument for assessing pain that was feasible for the nurses to use in the emergency care setting.

  Change from baseline pain at 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Sense of coherence (SOC) scale

  Change from baselines sence of coherence at 6 months

• Impact of Event Scale (IES-R)

  Change from baselines post traumatic stress at 6 months

• The European Quality of Life (EQ-5D)

  Change from baselines quality of life at 6 months

Study Arms (1)

Caring touch interventions

The study was conducted as a mixed-methods design. A recruitment of potential study participants was made up from a list of incoming patients arriving at the emergency department following an MVA, and who upon medical examinations were given an injury severity score between 0-3 and subsequently discharged straight home. ISS is a 0-8 point scale rating injury severity, where a rating of 0 indicates no physical injury; 1-3 represents minor physical injuries. The patients were informed about the study by mail during the week after the MVA, and those interested in participating in the caring touch intervention were asked to contact the investigator and subsequently completed a written informed consent form during the first encounter with the therapist.

Other: caring touch

Interventions

caring touch OTHER

The caring touch was adjusted to suit each participant and lasted for 20-60 minutes, once a week, for a maximum of eight treatment sessions altogether. The tactile massage, a soft tissue massage, without applying direct pressure or stretching to the muscles. The massage can be described as slow, gentle, structured, circulating movements with the palm of the therapist's hand, during which natural oil, or oil with the fragrance of lavender, was applied. The healing touch was based on an established procedure, during which the therapist applied a light pressure to the feet, ankles, knees, hips, stomach, heart area, arms, throat, forehead and scalp. The participant was fully dressed during the healing touch, as the therapist used her/his hand in different positions on the participant's body.

Also known as: healing touch, tactile massage

Caring touch interventions

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

A recruitment of potential study participants was made up from a list of incoming patients, arriving at the emergency department following an MVA, and who upon medical examinations were given an injury severity score (ISS) between 0-3 and subsequently discharged straight home. ISS is a 0-8 point scale rating injury severity, where a rating of 0 indicates no physical injury, 1-3 represents minor physical injuries; and 8 corresponds to a life-threatening injury

You may qualify if:

• literate in Swedish and cognitively intact, arriving at the emergency department following an MVA, and who upon medical examinations were given an injury severity score (ISS) between 0-3 and subsequently discharged straight home.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Fanny Airosa: lead
• Karolinska Institutet: collaborator

Related Publications (1)

• Airosa F, Arman M, Sundberg T, Ohlen G, Falkenberg T. Caring touch as a bodily anchor for patients after sustaining a motor vehicle accident with minor or no physical injuries - a mixed methods study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2016 Mar 22;16:106. doi: 10.1186/s12906-016-1084-2.

  PMID: 27004552 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Emergencies

Interventions

Touch

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Disease Attributes; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Sensation; Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Torkel Falkenberg, PhD

  Karolinska Institutet

  STUDY DIRECTOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Manager of Nursing Development, Emergency Medicine

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 6, 2015
• First Posted: November 20, 2015
• Study Start: September 1, 2012
• Primary Completion: January 1, 2014
• Study Completion: May 1, 2014
• Last Updated: November 23, 2015

Record last verified: 2015-11