The effect of nursing care based on Comfort Theory of Kolcaba on comfort, satisfaction and sleep quality of intensive care patients.

Background: It has been reported that factors such as immobility, pain, invasive interventions, separation from family, presence of unfamiliar people, constant noise and frequent sleep interruptions in intensive care units cause deterioration in comfort and sleep problems associated with deterioration in comfort, high levels of anxiety and restlessness.

Aim: The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate the effect of nursing care based on Kolcaba's Comfort Theory on the comfort, satisfaction and sleep quality of intensive care unit patients.

Study design: The sample of the study consisted of 40 experimental and 40 control group patients who agreed to participate in the study between April 2023 and July 2023. The data were collected by the Patient Information Form, General Comfort Questionnaire (GCQ), Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing Scale (NSNS), Richard-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) and Comfort Behaviour Checklist (CBC). Patients in the control group received conventional care by intensive care nurses. Patients in the experimental group received individualized nursing care based on the Comfort Theory of Kolcaba during their stay in the intensive care unit. The SPSS 26 program was used for statistical analyses of the data.

Results: The experimental and control groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic and disease characteristics, and no significant difference was found between the groups in terms of pre-test GCQ, NSNS, RCSQ, CBC and pain level mean scores. Compared with the pre-test evaluation of the experimental group, the post-test GCQ, NSNS, RCSQ and CBC total scores increased (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference in GCQ, NSNS, RCSQ and CBC levels between the experimental and control groups (p < 0.001). There was a significant decrease in pain scores between the experimental and control groups (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: As a result of this study, it was found that nursing care based on Comfort Theory of Kolcaba had a positive effect on the comfort, satisfaction and sleep quality of intensive care patients.

Relevance to clinical practice: Nursing care based on the Comfort Theory can be considered an appropriate method in clinical practice, especially in improving the quality of care of patients in the coronary intensive care unit.