Healing Touch: A Strategy for Acute Care Nurses' Stress Reduction

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Psychology

Background:

• Nurse stress impacts workforce stability and patient care.
• Effective stress management interventions are crucial for healthcare professionals.
• Existing interventions may not fully address the acute stressors faced by nurses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of Healing Touch (HT) versus Deep Breathing (DB) in reducing acute care nurses' stress.
• To evaluate the impact of HT and DB on nurses' vital signs and perceived stress levels.
• To explore nurses' experiences with stress reduction interventions.

Main Methods:

• A randomized cluster trial involving 150 nurses.
• Assessment of Visual Analog Scale for Stress (VASS) and vital signs (respiratory rate) pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at follow-up.
• Qualitative data collection through open-ended questions to understand intervention experiences.

Main Results:

• Nurses receiving HT reported significantly lower VASS stress scores post-treatment and at follow-up compared to the DB group.
• Respiratory rate differences between groups approached significance post-intervention and were significant at follow-up, favoring HT.
• Qualitative data provided insights into facilitators and barriers to intervention use.

Conclusions:

• Healing Touch is a more effective intervention than Deep Breathing for reducing acute care nurses' stress.
• HT demonstrates potential as a valuable tool for managing nurse stress and supporting workforce retention.
• Implementing HT can contribute to a more resilient and sustainable nursing workforce, particularly in post-pandemic healthcare environments.