PURPOSE To examine the effect of back massage on immune response, symptom distress, and mood state of patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allogeneic HSCT). METHODS Subjects were thirty-seven patients undergoing sibling allogeneic HSCT (including 16 in the experimental group and 21 in the control group). Experimental subjects participated in an intervention group of back massage for 10 minutes, once a day and 5 times a week, from one week prior to the HSCT to the third week after the HSCT or a control group. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest design was used. t-test and Repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine group differences by using SAS. RESULTS No significant group differences were found in Immune response (CD4+, CD8+,CD19+, CD56+) and symptom distress. The experimental group had significantly less mood state (anxiety, confusion) than the control group. CONCLUSION The back massage for the patients undergoing allogeneic HSCT may be effective in altering the anxiety and confusion during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. However, this study did not provide evidence in improving immune response and symptom distress.
PURPOSE To evaluate the effects of a follow-up program for breast cancer patients after surgery. METHOD A quasi-experimental design was used. The subjects were 56 breast cancer patients (experimental group: 27, control group: 29). The subjects of the experimental group participated in the Follow-up program of 7 sessions once a week, during 4 weeks including one telephone visit. The program consisted of health education of breast cancer, exercise, lymph edema prevention, diet education, theraband rehabilitation exercise, laugh therapy, and breast self examination. The obtained data were analysed by using the ANCOVA of SPSS. RESULTS There was a significant difference in the scores of physical wellbeing, symptom distress and mood state between the two groups. CONCLUSION Considering these research results, short-term intervention could improve physical and emotional functioning abilities by helping better health. Nurses should establish and manage a proper program to provide multipurpose support and it must apply the program after surgery as soon as possible for breast cancer women.
PURPOSE This study examined the mood state, activities of daily living, and attitude toward aging in the elderly according to the existence of a spouse and investigated the relation between these factors. METHOD: The subjects consisted of 190 elderly people, who were classified into two groups: those with and without a spouse. The data was collected from March to December 2004 using a structured questionnaire that included general characteristics, mood states, instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and an attitude toward aging scale. The collected data was analyzed using the program SPSS, including descriptive statistics, chi2-test, ANOVA, Scheff's test, and the Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULT: 1. There were significant differences between the two groups in mood state (t=-3.349, p=.001), anxiety-depression (t=-3.350, p=.001), and anger (t=p=.003) in the mood state subscales, and in attitude toward aging (t=2.514, p=.013). 2. There was a significant positive correlation between vigor and IADL (r=.253, p=.012) in the elderly with a spouse. 3. When there was a spouse, there was a significant difference according to gender (t=2.587, p=.012) in IADL. Without a spouse, there were significant differences in mood states according to education level (F=3.315, p=.023), in anxiety-depression according to the presence of illness (t=2.156, p=.033), in vigor according to age (F=3.439, p=.020) and education level (F=5.285, p=.002), and in IADL according to monthly income (F=3.322, p=.023) and the presence of illness (t=2.172, p=.032). CONCLUSION: An individualized approach is needed for elderly people that considers living arrangements and the existence of a spouse.
PURPOSE The purpose of the study is to investigate the degree of fatigue and its related factors in patients with breast cancer. METHOD: The subjects of this study consisted of 62 breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. The Revised Piper Fatigue Scale, Disruption of Usual Activity Scale, Linear Analogue Self Assessment Scale and Self-Care Diary Scale were employed to measure fatigue, disruption of usual activity, mood state and physical symptom respectively. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS-PC to obtain summary statistics for the descriptive analysis, Pearson Correlation, and Stepwise Multiple Regression. RESULT: The results are as follows. 1. The mean score of the degree of fatigue was 4.82 points indicating moderate level. 2. The mean score of the degree of disruption of usual activity, mood state and physical symptom were 2.66, 5.00, and 4.69 points. 3. Fatigue of the subjects was significantly correlated with disruption of usual activity(r=.517, p<.01), mood state(r=.420, p<.01) and physical symptom(r=.463, p<.01). 4. With the result of stepwise multiple regression, disruption of usual activity, mood state and physical symptom being the three variables which could explain fatigue by 39.1%. The results of this study suggest that comprehensive intervention strategy for fatigue should be developed to maintain quality of life during and following chemotherapy considering these factors.
PURPOSE This study is to identify the effects of muscle relaxation therapy on mood state and job stress of clinical nurses, finally to purpose the bases of nursing intervention to increased of work efficiency and job satisfaction. METHOD The research design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The subjects were 50 clinical nurses (23 for experimental group), who were working for 1-5 years in medical and surgical ward from the 2 C-University medical center in Seoul. This study was conducted from May 12 to July 25, 2000. The muscle relaxation therapy was performed 5 weeks to experimental group. The experi-mental group participated in the muscle relaxation training sessions for 20minutes twice a week during five weeks. The level of job stress was measured by nurses occupational stress scale. The level of Psychological response was measured by Profile of mood state. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, x2-test, t-test, paired t-test. RESULT The results of this study were as follows: The experimental group who received the muscle relaxation therapy showed more reduction of job stress level (t=1.35, p=0.038) and profile of mood state level (t=2.27, p=0.027) after therapy than those in control group. CONCLUSION This study reveals that the muscle relaxation therapy is effective in reduction of nurse's job stress and promotion of mood state. So the researcher thinks that it is useful in reduction of job stress and increased of job satisfaction in hospital.