Effectiveness of acupressure for residents of long-term care facilities with insomnia: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Acupressure on the Shenmen point (indexed as HT7) can improve insomnia, but there has been no longitudinal study to evaluate its efficacy for residents of long-term care facilities. No evidence from the existing literature indicates how long its efficacy can be maintained after stopping acupressure. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acupressure on the Shenmen point for residents of long-term care facilities with insomnia. METHODS: Fifty residents with insomnia in long-term care facilities were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial, with 25 participants allocated to the experimental group and 25 participants to the control group. For a 5-week period, the experimental group received standard acupressure on the HT7 points of both wrists, whereas the control group received only light touch on the same places. Insomnia was measured with the Athens Insomnia Scale-Taiwan form (AIS-T). Participants' self-reported scores were done at baseline, during the 5-week period, and after intervention. This study was analyzed on an intention-to-treat procedure. RESULTS: The experimental group has significantly better scores on the AIS-T compared to the control group, not only during the intervention period, but also extending after intervention, as shown by generalized estimating equations (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Offering acupressure on a regular basis has the potential to improve insomnia in residents of long-term care facilities. Acupressure on the HT7 point may improve insomnia for up to 2 weeks after the intervention.

Development of a Web-based childbirth education program for vaginal birth after C-section (VBAC) mothers.

The purpose of this study was to develop a web-based childbirth educational program for VBAC (vaginal birth after C-section) mothers. It contained two phases. In the first phase, analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation (ADDIE) based on theoretical frameworks were used to establish the program. The second phase (implementation and evaluation) included: expert approval, posting on the Website of National Taipei College of Nursing, program registration through the Internet, implementing the educational program, and testing the results of the curriculum. Ten mothers who had experienced C-section previously and were currently pregnant for over 32 weeks participated in this program. The quantitative data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and pair-t test. Colaizzi's phenomenological method was used for the qualitative data. The first phase established the program goals, course content, teaching methods, and a 90- minute educational program. The outcomes of the second phase: the tests before and after the curriculum were significantly different in VBAC knowledge (p < .01) and attitude (p < .05), participants evaluated the program to be "thorough". This VBAC educational program can be offered to nursing staff as a means to promote VBAC.

[Aromatherapy for dysmenorrhea].

Dysmenorrhea is one of a number of discomforts that women often suffer. Many kinds of complementary therapies have been discussed in the literature on the subject, and aromatherapy is one of these. Aromatherapy uses the action of essential oils refined from plants to relieve discomfort. It is effective at relieving the symptom distress associated with many conditions, but the literature contains little information about essential oils and dysmenorrhea relief. This paper therefore discusses several topics that may be of interest to women, as follows: 1. The fundamental concept of aromatherapy and its applications. 2. The essential oil used for dysmenorrhea relief. 3. The principles of essential oil recipes for dysmenorrhea relief. 4. The method for using essential oil for dysmenorrhea relief, and things to note.