Effect of Massage therapy on sleep disturbances and pain control for children post abdominal surgeries

Background : Abdominal surgeries are considered to be one of the most painful surgical procedures which defined as surgery pertaining to the content of the abdominal cavity. Massage therapy is a technique that promotes the manual mobilization of several structures from both muscle and subcutaneous tissue, The study was aimed to determine the effect of massage therapy on sleep disturbances and pain control for children post abdominal surgeries. Subjects and method : Purposive sampling of 60 children post abdominal surgeries participated in the present study divided into two equal groups study and control group. The study was conducted at the Pediatric Surgical Department of Tanta University Hospital . Four tools were used for data collection: structured interview schedule for socio-demographic characteristics of the children, sleep diaries, assessment for sleep disturbances scale for children, physiological measurement, pain assessment by using numerical rating scale, and FLACC behavioral pain assessment scale. The results showed children in the study group significantly improved of sleep disturbances and physiological measurement decreased pain level after implementing massage therapy postoperatively Conclusions: The difference was statistically significant after implementing massage therapy in the study group than control group. The study recommended that ongoing in-service education programs must be designed and implemented for nurses about massage therapy . Future studies are suggested with increased sample sizes, a longer interventional period duration, and an objective measure of sleep.