The Effect of Acupressure on Pain, Nausea-Vomiting, and Mental Well-Being in Oncology Patients

June 1, 2023 updated by: Esra Cavusoglu, Mersin University

The Effect of Self-Administered Acupressure and Acupressure Applied by Therapist on Pain, Nausea-Vomiting, and Mental Well-Being in Oncology Patients: A Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Study

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the effect of self acupressure and acupressure applied by therapists on pain, nausea-vomiting, and mental well-being in oncology patients.

For this purpose, 93 individuals with stage 1-stage 3 cancer will be included in the study.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Is acupressure effective on pain, nausea-vomiting and mental well-being in oncology patients? Is there a difference in the effectiveness of self-acupressure and acupressure applied by therapist on pain, nausea-vomiting and mental well-being? The participants will be included in the study as three groups, namely the self-acupressure group, the acupressure group applied by the therapist, and the control group.

Self-acupressure participants will self-administer acupressure. In the acupressure group, which will be applied by the therapist, acupressure will be applied to the participants by researchers who have acupressure certificate.

In the control group, acupressure etc. No additional application will be made. Visual analog scale, nausea-vomiting and retching index, and mental well-being scales will be applied to all groups at the beginning of the study and three days after the study.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Large Intestine Meridian 4th point (Hegu/LI4), Pericardium Meridian/Neiguan (P6) point and Yintang (EX-HN 3) point will be used for acupressure application in the research.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

93

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 Contact

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ≥18 years
  • Cancer patients without distant metastases in stage-1, stage-2 and stage-3 who have received at least one course of chemotherapy
  • Pain degree 4 and above (will be evaluated with a visual analog scale)
  • Nausea-vomiting degree of 4 and above (will be evaluated with a visual analog scale)
  • Receiving standard antiemetic and standard analgesic treatment (All patients included in the study should receive similar treatment.)
  • No previous acupressure experience
  • Absence of any wound or lesion in the area where acupressure will be applied.
  • Not using a different complementary approach during the collection of research data
  • Those who signed the Informed Consent Form/Written Consent Form
  • Patients without any psychiatric diagnosis will be included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • < 18 years old
  • Those who have not received chemotherapy before
  • Pain grade below 4 (will be evaluated with a visual analog scale)
  • Nausea-vomiting degree below 4 (will be evaluated with a visual analog scale)
  • Receiving different antiemetic and analgesic treatments
  • Previous acupressure experience
  • Any wound or lesion in the area where acupressure will be applied
  • Using a complementary approach other than acupressure at the time research data was collected
  • Those who did not sign the Informed Consent Form/Written Consent Form
  • Patients with any psychiatric diagnosis will not be included in the study.

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: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Self acupressure group
The first acupressure application will be administered and taught individually by the researcher to the oncology patients in the self-administered group. Afterwards, each patient who learns the application will be asked to apply acupressure on his own for three days. In the self-acupressure group, a questionnaire form consisting of a personal information form, visual analog scale, nausea, vomiting and retching index and mental well-being scale will be applied first (pre-test) before the acupressure application is taught to the group by the researchers. Afterwards, patients will apply acupressure on their own for three days, and at the end of this period (post-test), a questionnaire consisting of personal information form, visual analog scale, nausea, vomiting and retching index and mental well-being scale will be applied. Acupressure will be applied the large intestine meridian 4th Point (LI4), the pericardium meridian Neiguan (P6) and Yintang (EX-HN3).
Other: Self-acupressure
In the self-acupressure group, before the application, the tissue sensitivity will be reduced by heating and rubbing for 20 seconds without direct pressure on the acupressure points, and the points will be made ready for acupressure application. Afterwards, sequential (breathing rhythm) compressions will be applied to the determined acupressure points by the researcher for a total of two minutes for each point without raising the finger, taking into account the pain threshold of the individual who is applied with the thumb, with 10 seconds of pressure for two seconds of relief. Two of the three different points (LI4 and P6) selected for the application will be applied symmetrically on the other extremity. Therefore, the session duration of each patient will be approximately 12 minutes, depending on the preparation and compression time on each point. Afterwards, acupressure will be applied to themselves by participants
Other: Acupressure by therapist
In this group, acupressure will be administered to stage I, stage II, and stage III cancer patients receiving at least one course of chemotherapy for a total of three days by researchers with acupressure certification. Before the application (pre-test) by the therapist, a questionnaire consisting of a personal information form, visual analog scale, nausea, vomiting and retching index and mental well-being scale will be applied to the patients in the group in question. At the end of the three-day acupressure application (post-test) applied to the patients included in the study by the therapist, a questionnaire consisting of a personal information form, visual analog scale, nausea, vomiting and retching index and mental well-being scale will be applied. In the acupressure group applied by the therapist, a total of three points will be applied to the upper extremity: the 4th point of the large intestine meridian (LI4), the Pericardium Meridian/Neiguan (P6), Yintang (EX-HN3) point.
Other: Acupressure by therapists
In the acupressure group applied by therapist, before the application, the tissue sensitivity will be reduced by heating and rubbing for about 20 seconds without direct pressure on the acupressure points, and the points will be ready for acupressure application. Afterwards, sequential (breathing rhythm) compressions will be applied to the determined acupressure points by the researcher for a total of two minutes for each point without raising the finger, taking into account the pain threshold of the individual who is applied with the thumb, with 10 seconds of pressure for two seconds of relief. Two of the three different points (LI4 and P6) selected for the application will be applied symmetrically on the other extremity. Therefore, the session duration of each patient will be approximately 12 minutes, depending on the preparation and compression time on each point.
Other: Control group
The control group will receive the routine treatment applied in the hospital, and acupressure will not be applied to this group.
Other: Control group
No intervention will be made in the control group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain intensity will be evaluated with a visual analog scale.
Time Frame: Change from baseline pain level at 3 days
The patient evaluates their own pain using a scale ranging from 1 to 10, with 1 = very mild discomfort and 10 = the most severe pain the patient can imagine. Ranges for pain intensity; <3 mild pain, 3-6 moderate pain, >6 severe pain.
Change from baseline pain level at 3 days
Nausea-vomiting severity will be evaluated with the Rhodes Nausea-Vomiting and Retching Index.
Time Frame: Change from baseline nausea-vomiting level at 3 days
Each response is scored as 0 = least distress, 4 = most distress. The patient's experience of nausea and vomiting in each of the 8 items is summed up. The highest possible value is 32, indicating the most severe symptom occurrence score.
Change from baseline nausea-vomiting level at 3 days
Mental well-being will be evaluated using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale.
Time Frame: Change from baseline mental well-being level at 3 days
The scale is in the 5-point Likert type and a minimum of 14 and a maximum of 70 points are obtained from the scale. Scoring of the scale is (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = somewhat agree, 4 = agree, 5 = completely agree).
Change from baseline mental well-being level at 3 days

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Mersin University

Investigators

  • Study Director: Esra Çavuşoğlu, Doctorate, Mersin University
  • Principal Investigator: Hilal Altundal Duru, Doctorate, Çankırı Karatekin University
  • Principal Investigator: Kadir Eser, Mersin University
  • Principal Investigator: Emel Sezer, Mersin University
  • Principal Investigator: Vehbi Erçolak, Mersin University
  • Principal Investigator: Ümmügülsüm Kılıç, Mersin University

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 (Estimated)

June 5, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

July 31, 2023

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 24, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 22, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 1, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

June 12, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 12, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 1, 2023

Last Verified

June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • mERSİNuU.

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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