Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
The researchers hypothesized that teaching rural caregivers to
provide gentle massage to chronically ill loved ones is consistent
with their personal characteristics and health beliefs and would
result in benefits that for both the caregiver and care recipient.
However, it was anticipated that recruiting and retaining ruraldwelling
family caregivers for an intervention study could be
challenging because of their personal characteristics as well as their
pre-existing stress and time constraints (Carrick 1998).
Aim of the Study
The purpose of this pilot study was to determine whether a) rural
caregivers would learn and provide gentle massage to their
chronically ill loved ones, b) study participation and protocol
implementation were burdensome for caregivers, and c) study
participants would realize perceived benefits.
Methodology
In this pilot intervention study, volunteers from a Western frontier
state who cared for a chronically ill family member were taught
gentle massage techniques which they administered to their loved
ones over four weeks. The Brief Profile of Moods State (POMS), a
quickly administered self-report tool consisting of 18 items scored
on a 5-point scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely). This
instrument measures general distress or mood disturbance over the
past seven days and is sensitive to change over short periods. It
has excellent internal consistency (alpha=0.91 – 0.92), is highly
correlated with the longer 65-item POMS (r=0.92 – 0.93), and may
provide a better measure of psychological distress than the longer
POMS (Cella et al. 1987).
Following the intervention period, caregivers were interviewed and
their perceptions and responses to the protocol were recorded.
Setting and Sample
Institutional Review Board approval was obtained prior to
recruitment. Participants were recruited from Western frontier state
through newspaper advertisements, word of mouth, and through
the social services director at a long term care (LTC) facility. One of
the researchers, a certified massage therapist, met with interested
persons either individually or in small groups at their home or a
mutually convenient location, such as a conference room at the LTC
facility. During this initial meeting the study was described,
informed consent was obtained. Participants were briefly
interviewed to determine their comfort level and any former
experience providing massage, and they filled out a demographic
data form and completed a pre-intervention Brief POMS. The gentle
massage techniques of effleurage and pettrisage were then
demonstrated for the participants and a return demonstration was
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