The Impact of Slow-Stroke Back Massage on Anxiety Among Patients Receiving Hemodialysis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background and Aim: Anxiety is among the commonest psychological problems experienced by patients receiving hemodialysis. One of the anxiety management strategies is complementary therapy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of slow-stroke back massage on anxiety among hemodialysis patients. Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial was carried out in a sample of 60 patients. The patients were allocated either to an experimental or a control group through simple random allocation. Patients in the experimental group received a slow-stroke back massage for 10 minutes thrice a week during 4 consecutive weeks, while patients in the control group received routine care services and had no information about the intervention provided to the patients in the experimental group. The level of anxiety was measured using Splielberger’s State-trait anxiety inventory at 3 time points, namely, after hemodialysis and before the intervention, 15 days after the intervention, and 30 days after the intervention. Data were entered into SPSS software (v. 16.0) and analyzed through running the repeated measures analysis of variance and the independent-sample t-test. Descriptive statistic measures were used for data description. Results: The repeated measures analysis of variance showed that slow-stroke back massage significantly alleviated state and trait anxiety at 15 and 30 days after the intervention (P < 0.001). Thirty days after the intervention, the means of state anxiety in the experimental and control groups were 34.7 ± 7.4 and 46.2 ± 7.3 while the means of trait anxiety were 35.2 ± 8.4 and 46.2 ± 7.4, respectively. The means of the pretest-posttest mean difference of state anxiety on the 15th and 30th day after the intervention in the experimental group were 10.6 ± 8.5 and 12.8 ± 7.2 while the means of the trait anxiety pretest-posttest mean difference were 7.7 ± 8.2 and 10.7 ± 3.4, respectively. The means of posttest state and trait anxiety in the experimental group were significantly lower than the baseline values (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Using massage therapy programs can positively affect the level of anxiety among patients receiving hemodialysis.