Association between Holistic Nursing Intervention Combined with Self-Administered Reiki and Changes in Mean Arterial Blood Pressure among Pregnant Women Diagnosed with Mild Hypertensive Disorder

Background: Hypertensive disorder leads to maternal dead and mortality in Thailand. Objective: This quasi-experimental study aimed to test the effect of a holistic nursing program applying Reiki to the mean arterial pressure (MAP) of pregnant women. Methods: Purposive sampling method was used to recruit pregnant women diagnosed with hypertensive disorders. A total of thirty-four pregnant women were assigned to either the control or intervention groups. Blood pressure was measured as the baseline prior beginning of the program, then after completion of eight-week program intervention. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate the characteristics of demographic data and the MAP in each group. Wilcoxon test was used to examine the MAP pre- and post-intervention in each group. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the significant difference in the MAP between groups. Results: From this study it was seen that there was a significant difference in MAP between pre- and post-intervention in the intervention group (p< 0.020), while there was no difference in the control group. After the eight-week program, there was no statistically significant difference in the MAP between two groups. Conclusion: The program can potentially be an alternative therapy to calm the sympathetic nervous system resulting in better blood pressure control of pregnant women with the hypertensive disorder.