Clinical Research Directory

Effect of Abdominal Massage on Functional Constipation in Older Adults Living in a Care Center: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: Although constipation can occur at any age, it is a common and treatable health problem among older adults. This randomized controlled study aimed to investigate the effect of abdominal massage on constipation among older adults receiving care services in a care center. Methods: The study included 86 older adults who met the Rome IV diagnostic criteria for constipation and had no contraindication to abdominal massage. Participants were randomly assigned equally to intervention and control groups using simple randomization. Abdominal massage was administered to the intervention group for 15 minutes per day, five days a week, for four weeks, while no intervention was applied to the control group. Constipation severity and constipation related quality of life were assessed using the Constipation Severity Scale (CSS) and the Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life (PAC-QOL). Conclusions: Abdominal massage may be a non-invasive, low-cost, and easily applicable intervention for managing constipation among older adults. Further randomized controlled trials with longer intervention and follow-up periods are warranted.

Effect of Abdominal Massage on Patients in Intensive Care Unit

Bowel motility can be affected by many factors such as immobilization, lack of fiber in the nutritional formula, inadequate fluid intake, and lack of privacy for toileting in patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Abdominal massage, which is one of the effective methods to increase intestinal motility, is accepted as an intervention that can be safely applied in patients. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of abdominal massage applied to patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit on sepsis, survival, discharge time from intensive care unit, amount and duration of antibiotic use. Hypotheses H0: Abdominal massage application has no effect on sepsis, survival, discharge time from intensive care unit, amount and duration of antibiotic use in patients hospitalized in intensive care unit. H1: Abdominal massage application has an effect on sepsis, survival, discharge time from intensive care unit, amount and duration of antibiotic use in patients hospitalized in intensive care unit. In this randomized controlled study, the data of patients who received abdominal massage for 5 days during routine physiotherapy applications and those who did not will be recorded. Randomization will be performed in a 1:1 ratio using a computer generated randomization schedule. The effect of abdominal massage on sepsis, survival, discharge time from intensive care, amount and duration of antibiotic use will be examined by using the data of 2 groups with and without abdominal massage in a randomized controlled trial.