The effects of therapeutic touch on spiritual care and sleep quality in patients receiving palliative care

Author: Kevser S Ünal Aslan1, Funda Çetinkaya2
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Fundamentals of Nursing Department, Faculty of Health Sciences, Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, Osmaniye, Turkey. <sup>2</sup> Department of Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey.
Conference/Journal: Perspect Psychiatr Care
Date published: 2021 Apr 16
Other: Special Notes: doi: 10.1111/ppc.12801. , Word Count: 128


Purpose:
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of therapeutic touch (TT) on spiritual care and sleep quality in patients receiving palliative care.

Design and methods:
The research was conducted on 73 inpatients receiving palliative care in a training and research hospital. Data were collected with Socio-Demographic Status Questionnaire, Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

Findings:
As a result of this study, a statistically significant difference was found between the intervention and control group SSCRS (Z = -7.356 p = 0.000) and PSQI (Z = -7.292 p = 0.000) in post-test data after 4 weeks of TT application.

Practice implications:
The results revealed that TT application has a positive impact on spiritual care and sleep quality of the patients.

Keywords: palliative care; sleep quality; spiritual care.

PMID: 33861467 DOI: 10.1111/ppc.12801