AbstractIn the recent years, there has been an increased acceptance of the use of Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM) in the health care system. Massage is one of the CAM which is thought to work by improving circulation which reduces pain caused by the accumulation of irritants such as lactic acid and inflammatory substances, it also relaxes the person thus raising the pain threshold. Interest in the therapeutic use of touch through massage has grown with several writers advocating the use of massage in daily nursing practice to promote comfort and demonstrate caring. The objectives of the study were i) assess the pre-intervention data of selected side-effects associated with cancer chemotherapy in both experimental and control groups ii) determine the selected side-effects associated with cancer chemotherapy after intervention by comparing the scores of experimental and control groups.
Hypothesis of the study: There is a significant difference in the mean nausea and pain scores after foot massage between experimental and control groups. Methodology: The study adopted a quasi experimental design. Foot massage was chosen as intervention. Data was collected from cancer patients receiving chemotherapy medications and suffering from pain and nausea. Results: The results of the study revealed pre-intervention data of the mean pain scores of the control group was 5 and experimental group was 6.35 and nausea scores of the control group was 4.7 and experimental group was 7.1. The after-intervention data of the mean of pain in control group was 3.4 and experimental group was 1.35 and nausea scores in control group were 3.7 and experimental group was 1.65. Comparison of the mean difference of pain and nausea between the two groups shows that experimental group was significantly higher than the control group.
Keywords: Foot massage; Pain, Nausea, Heart rate.