Effect of Abdominal Massage and Bed Exercise on Palliative Care Patients

March 30, 2026 updated by: SERAP GÜNGÖR ÜNAL, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University

Abdominal Massage Group Bed Exercise Group Control Group

Palliative care is a special type of medical care that focuses on providing support and improving the quality of life for individuals facing life-threatening illnesses. Nursing care for patients receiving enteral nutrition includes interventions that facilitate nutrition, increase patient comfort, and reduce complications. This study will be conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study to evaluate the effects of abdominal massage and in-bed exercise on gastrointestinal complications and patient comfort in palliative care patients.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Abdominal Massage Group Application Steps

  • In this group, patients will receive abdominal massage by the researcher in addition to routine care, with privacy provided.
  • Abdominal massage will be applied to the patient by the researcher every morning between 07-08 and 19-20 for 3 days before enteral feeding, and measurements will be recorded 24 hours after the application at 07-08 in the morning. The timing and frequency of massage application were decided according to studies in the literature and expert opinions.
  • Before abdominal massage, the patient will be placed in a supine position and will remain in the same position throughout the procedure.
  • For abdominal massage, superficial effleurage, deep effleurage, petrissage, vibration, and superficial effleurage maneuvers will be applied to the patient for approximately 15 minutes, respectively.
  • After the application, the patient will be placed in a semi-fawler position. In-bed Exercise Group Application Steps In-bed exercise application will be applied to the patient by the researcher every morning between 07-08 for 3 days before enteral feeding and measurements will be recorded 24 hours after the application.

Before the in-bed exercise application, the patient will be placed in a supine position and will be kept in the same position throughout the procedure.

For the in-bed exercise application to the patient; opening and closing the wrist and fingers inwards and outwards, opening and closing the elbow and arm, turning the arm right and left at the level of the head, ankle up and down and right and left, bending and releasing the hip and knee, opening and closing the leg sideways, pushing and pulling the hip and knee 90 ͦ, and leg movements in the up and down direction will be applied for approximately 15 minutes.

After the application, the patient will be placed in the semi-fawler position. Control Group Application Steps

  • Standard nursing care will be applied to the patient. Abdominal massage group
  • In the first interview, between 07-08 in the morning, abdominal massage and demographic data before feeding and other information about the patients will be filled in by the researcher from the patient record file, "Patient Information Form" and "Comfort Behavior Checklist, Wong-Baker Face Pain Scale", 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' before the intervention and feeding (1st Interview).
  • In the first interview, between 07-08 in the morning, abdominal massage will be applied to the patient by the researcher for approximately 15 minutes before feeding (1st Interview).
  • In the second interview, between 07-08 in the morning, abdominal massage and 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' will be filled in before feeding and abdominal massage will be repeated for approximately 15 minutes (2nd Interview).
  • In the third interview, between 07-08 in the morning, abdominal massage and 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' will be filled in before feeding and abdominal massage will be repeated for approximately 15 minutes (3rd Interview).
  • In the fourth interview, between 07-08 in the morning, data will be collected with the "Comfort Behavior Checklist", "Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale" and 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' before feeding (4th Interview).

In-bed exercise group

  • In the first interview, between 07-08 in the morning, demographic data and other information about the patients will be collected from the patient record file before starting the in-bed exercise and feeding, and the "Patient Information Form" and "Comfort Behavior Checklist, Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale", 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled out by the researcher before the intervention and feeding (1st Interview).
  • In the first interview, between 07-08 in the morning, in-bed exercises will be applied by the researcher for approximately 15 minutes before feeding (1st Interview).
  • In the second interview, between 07-08 in the morning, the 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled out before the in-bed exercise and feeding and the in-bed exercises will be repeated for approximately 15 minutes (2nd Interview).
  • In the third interview, between 07-08 in the morning, the 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled in before bed exercise and feeding, and the in-bed exercises will be repeated for approximately 15 minutes (3rd Interview).
  • In the fourth interview, between 07-08 in the morning, the Comfort Behavior Checklist, Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale and 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be collected before feeding (4th Interview).

Control group

  • In the first interview, between 07-08 in the morning, demographic data and other information about the patients will be collected from the patient record file by the researcher before feeding, the "Patient Information Form" and the "Comfort Behavior Checklist, Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale", 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled in before the intervention and feeding (1st Interview).
  • In the second interview, between 07-08 in the morning, the 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled in before feeding (2nd Interview).
  • In the third meeting, between 07-08 am, the 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled out before feeding (3rd Meeting). - In the fourth meeting, between 07-08 am, data will be collected with the "Comfort Behavior Checklist", Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale and 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' before feeding (4th Meeting).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

105

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

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Kahramanmaraş
      • Kahramanmaraş, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey (Türkiye), 46000
        • Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam Unıversity

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

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being over 18 years of age,
  • Patients receiving inpatient treatment and care in the palliative care unit,
  • Patients who started enteral feeding at least 24 hours ago
  • Patients without wounds in the extremity and abdominal region
  • Patients without intestinal obstruction
  • Patients who have not received abdominal radiotherapy and have not undergone abdominal surgery in the last six weeks
  • Patients with a Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) >3
  • Patients who have no restrictions on abdominal massage
  • Patients whose consent has been obtained from their relatives will be included.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients whose enteral feeding was stopped during the study
  • Patients who showed signs of infection due to Ventilator-associated Pneumonia or other infections during or before the study will not be included.

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: control group
- Standard nursing care will be applied to the patient.
Other: control group

In the first interview, between 07-08 am, demographic data and other patient information will be collected from the patient record file before feeding, using the "Patient Information Form" and the "Comfort Behavior Checklist, Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale", 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form', before the intervention and feeding (Interview 1).

  • In the second interview, between 07-08 am, the 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' will be filled out before feeding (Interview 2).
  • In the third interview, between 07-08 am, the 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' will be filled out before feeding (Interview 3).
  • In the fourth interview, between 07-08 in the morning, data will be collected with the "Comfort Behavior Checklist", Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale and 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' before feeding (Interview 4).
Experimental: abdominal massage group
  • In this group, patients will receive abdominal massage by the researcher, in addition to routine care, with privacy.
  • Abdominal massage will be applied to the patient by the researcher every morning between 07-08 and 19-20 for 3 days before enteral feeding, and measurements will be recorded 24 hours after the application at 07-08 in the morning. The timing and frequency of massage application were decided according to studies in the literature and expert opinions (Uysal et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2023).
  • Before abdominal massage, the patient will be placed in a supine position and will remain in the same position throughout the procedure.
  • For abdominal massage, superficial effleurage, deep effleurage, petrissage, vibration and superficial effleurage maneuvers will be applied to the patient for approximately 15 minutes, respectively.
  • After the application, the patient will be placed in a semi-fawler position
Other: abdominal massage
  • In the first interview, between 07-08 in the morning, demographic data and other information about the patients will be collected from the patient record file before the intervention and feeding by the researcher using the "Patient Information Form" and "Comfort Behavior Checklist, Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale", 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' (Interview 1).
  • In the first interview, between 07-08 in the morning, abdominal massage will be applied to the patient by the researcher for approximately 15 minutes before feeding (Interview 1).
  • In the second interview, between 07-08 in the morning, abdominal massage will be repeated for approximately 15 minutes by filling out the 'Enteral Feeding Monitoring Form' before feeding and abdominal massage will be repeated (Interview 2).
  • In the third interview, between 07-08 in the morning, the 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled out before abdominal massage and feeding, and the abdominal massage will be repeated for approxim
Experimental: bed exercise group

The in-bed exercise application will be applied to the patient by the researcher every morning between 07-08 for 3 days before enteral feeding and the measurements will be recorded 24 hours after the application.

The patient will be placed in a supine position before the in-bed exercise application and will be kept in the same position throughout the procedure.

For the in-bed exercise application, the following will be applied to the patient, in order; opening and closing the wrist and fingers inwards and outwards, opening and closing the elbow and arm, turning the arm right and left at the level of the head, ankle up and down and right and left, bending and releasing the hip and knee, opening and closing the leg sideways, pushing and pulling the hip and knee 90°, and leg up and down movements will be applied for approximately 15 minutes.

After the application, the patient will be placed in the semi-fawler position.
Other: bed exercise group

In the first interview, demographic data and other patient information will be collected from the patient record file between 07-08 in the morning before starting bed exercise and nutrition, and the "Patient Information Form" and "Comfort Behavior Checklist, Wong-Baker Face Pain Scale", 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' will be filled in by the researcher before the intervention and nutrition (1st Interview).

  • In the first interview, bed exercises will be applied by the researcher for approximately 15 minutes before nutrition between 07-08 in the morning (1st Interview).
  • In the second interview, bed exercises will be repeated for approximately 15 minutes after filling out the 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' before bed exercise and nutrition between 07-08 in the morning (2nd Interview).
  • In the third interview, bed exercises will be repeated for approximately 15 minutes after filling out the 'Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form' before bed exercise and nutrition between 07-08 in

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The effect of abdominal massage on gastrointestinal complications
Time Frame: 96 hours
Abdominal massage was repeated for 3 days, and , diarrhea status and number, constipation status, vomiting status and number, nausea status, abdominal distension, and defecation number measurement were recorded before each abdominal massage.
96 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Effects of in-bed exercise on gastrointestinal complications
Time Frame: 96 hours
Effects of in-bed exercise was repeated for 3 days, and, diarrhea status and number, constipation status, vomiting status and number, nausea status, abdominal distension, and defecation number measurement were recorded before each in bed exercise.
96 hours

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The effect of abdominal massage on patient comfort
Time Frame: 96 hours
The Comfort Behavior Checklist (CBC) consists of 30 behavioral indicators, pain, and comfort scores. The minimum score is 25, and the maximum is 100. Higher scores indicate higher comfort levels. Scoring was done performed before and after the abdominal massage.
96 hours
The effect of in-bed exercise on patient comfort
Time Frame: 96 hours
The Comfort Behavior Checklist (CBC) consists of 30 behavioral indicators, pain, and comfort scores. The minimum score is 25, and the maximum score is 100. Higher scores indicate higher levels of comfort. Scoring was done before and after starting in-bed exercises.
96 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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)

March 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 25, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 25, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 12, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

August 15, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 31, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 30, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Abdominal massage

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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