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Effect of a regular family visiting program as an affective, auditory, and tactile stimulation on the consciousness level of comatose patients with a head injury
Author(s) -
ABBASI Maryam,
MOHAMMADI Eesa,
SHEAYKH REZAYI Abdoreza
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
japan journal of nursing science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.363
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1742-7924
pISSN - 1742-7932
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-7924.2009.00117.x
Subject(s) - glasgow coma scale , coma (optics) , randomized controlled trial , consciousness , intervention (counseling) , level of consciousness , sensory stimulation therapy , stimulation , medicine , head injury , psychology , analysis of variance , repeated measures design , physical therapy , audiology , persistent vegetative state , physical medicine and rehabilitation , anesthesia , minimally conscious state , nursing , psychiatry , surgery , neuroscience , statistics , physics , mathematics , optics
Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a regular family visiting program, as an auditory, affective, and tactile stimulation, on the consciousness level of comatose head injury patients. Method: A randomized controlled trial design was used. Fifty comatose head injury patients were randomly allocated into a control group or an intervention group. The consciousness level of the patients in both groups was evaluated and recorded by the Glasgow Coma Scale, before and 30 min after the visiting program. Results: The independent t ‐test results demonstrated that the means of the consciousness level at the first day before intervention had no significant difference in both groups. The repeated measured ANOVA results demonstrated that the consciousness level alterations were significant between the two groups over the 6 days of intervention. Conclusion: The results of the present study provided evidence to support that a regular family visiting program could induce the stimulation of comatose patients. Therefore, it can be considered as a potential nursing intervention.