The Effect of a Foot Bath on Sleep Quality in The Elderly

November 14, 2023 updated by: Hatice Demirağ, Ph.D

The Effect of a Foot Bath on Sleep Quality in The Elderly: A Single-Blind Randomised Controlled Trial

This study was carried out as a single-blind randomized controlled study to investigate the effect of a foot bath on sleep quality in the elderly.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Sleep consists of psychological, physiological, and social dimensions and has an extremely significant function in meeting basic human needs. Sleep affects everyone's daily life and quality of life. One of the concepts that have been emphasized and gained importance recently is "sleep quality". Sleep quality is defined as "an individual's feeling ready and energetic for a new day after waking up". It is thought that sleep quality also has quantitative aspects such as falling asleep, sleep duration, number of awakenings at night, and subjective aspects such as restfulness or depth of sleep.

The population of elderly individuals is increasing day by day worldwide. In the changing age pyramid, the rate of elderly population was 9.7 % (8245124 people) (over 65 years of age) in 2021 and is estimated to be 11.0 % in 2025, 12.9 % in 2030, 16.3 % in 2040, 22.6 % in 2060, and 25.6% in 2080. With increasing age, changes occur in normal sleep patterns, complaints of insomnia increase, and satisfaction with sleep quality decreases. According to a literature review, sleep problems rank third among the reasons for visiting a doctor in the elderly, after digestive system problems and headache symptoms. The inability to fall asleep, waking up early in the morning, waking up frequently at night, and sleeping during the day are among the most common sleep-related problems in the elderly.

Sleep problems in the elderly can cause serious problems but are also preventable. In this sense, all health personnel, especially nurses, should apply comprehensive nursing care to minimize sleep problems and improve sleep quality in the elderly. Pharmacological treatment is generally employed in the elimination of sleep problems. However, pharmacological treatment is inadequate in eliminating sleep problems, so the elderly continuously use medication, which can cause side effects. On the other hand, the tendency toward non-pharmacological treatment has recently increased, and developments have been achieved in non-pharmacological treatment methods. It has been reported that methods such as music therapy, eye mask, complementary therapies, massage, aromatherapy, and a foot bath are used to improve the sleep quality of elderly people with sleep problems. Foot baths are reported to facilitate falling asleep by affecting body temperature. Sleep quality may improve in patients whose falling asleep process becomes easier. However, to the best of this knowledge, no study has been found in Turkey in which foot baths are used in the elderly and other populations. After all these considerations, the effect of a foot bath on sleep quality in the elderly was analyzed in this study.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Kelki̇t
      • Gümüşhane, Kelki̇t, Turkey, 29600
        • Gumushane University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years and older (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being 65 years old or older,
  • Being literate,
  • Performing activities of daily living,
  • Not having problems with the sense organs (such as eyes, ears, skin),
  • Not being paraplegic/hemiplegic,
  • Not working the night shift, and
  • Having a mobile phone that can make video a call or having a relative with such a phone.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Refusing to participate in the research,
  • Having psychological disorders,
  • Using complementary therapy to sleep,
  • Having enuresis,
  • Being bedridden or using a wheelchair, and
  • Having more than 10 years of diagnosis of diabetes or diabetes-related neuropathy.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Foot Bath Group
This group of elderly people were taught the foot bath practically by a researcher at the pre-study meeting and were given the "Foot Bath Information Brochure" and a "personalized water thermometer". The other researcher administered the "Elderly Information Form" and "PSQI" to all elderly people before the study using individual interviews lasting approximately 15 minutes and pen and paper method. The elderly were asked to soak their feet in the water in a marked plastic container with a depth of 10 centimeters and a temperature of 41-42°C for 20 minutes up to their ankles 50 minutes before normal sleeping hours every night for 8 weeks. In addition, the PSQI, which provides information about sleep quality, type, and severity of sleep disturbance, was applied to the elderly before the study (pretest), 4th week (interim measurement/1st measurement), and at the end of the study (8th week) for a total of 3 times during 8 weeks.
The elderly were asked to soak their feet in the water in a marked plastic container with a depth of 10 centimeters and a temperature of 41-42°C for 20 minutes up to their ankles 50 minutes before normal sleeping hours every night for 8 weeks.
No Intervention: Control Group
No application was made to the elderly in this group. Only the PSQI, which gives information about sleep quality, type, and severity of sleep disturbance, was administered to the elderly before the study (pretest), at the 4th week (interim measurement/1st measurement), and at the end of the study (8th week) for a total of 3 times for 8 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)
Time Frame: 8 week

PSQI is an index that questions sleep quality, type, and severity of sleep disturbance in the last month in adults. 19 questions are answered by the person himself/herself, and 5 questions are answered by the person's bedmate or people sleeping in the same room.

The PSQI, which provides information about sleep quality, type, and severity of sleep disturbance, was applied to the elderly before the study (pretest), 4th week (interim measurement/1st measurement), and at the end of the study (8th week) for a total of 3 times during 8 weeks.

8 week

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Hatice Demirağ, Dr.Öğr.Üyesi, Gümüşhane Universıty

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 5, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 5, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

October 7, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 15, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 14, 2023

Last Verified

November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RCS10052022

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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