Surgical Patients' Knowledge and Practices Regarding Non-Pharmacological Methods Used in Symptom Management

Year 2025, Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 141 - 148, 13.07.2025

Seher Tanrıverdi , Neslihan Söylemez

https://doi.org/10.62425/esbder.1605377

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the knowledge and practices of surgical patients regarding non-pharmacological methods used in symptom management.
Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with 172 patients hospitalised in the surgical clinics of a hospital in Mardin province of Türkiye. Data were collected face-to-face between the dates November 2022 and February 2023 with a patient characteristics form and questions about complementary and alternative therapies.
Results: It was determined that 64% of the patients were aware of spiritual therapy practices, and 45.3% of them always used these practices. Massage (54.1%), hot application (50.1%), and spiritual therapy (52.3%) were used to reduce pain; spiritual therapy (44.8%) was used to relieve fatigue and weakness; herbal treatment (16.3%) and spiritual therapy (20.3%) were used to relieve nausea and vomiting; spiritual therapy (57.0%) was used to reduce anxiety, fear, and stress; and spiritual therapy (30.9%) was used to relieve depressive mood.
Conclusion: It was found that the majority of the patients participating in the study knew non-pharmacological methods such as massage, hot-cold application and spiritual therapy, and nearly half of them believed in the effectiveness of these methods and preferred spiritual methods most frequently.

Keywords

Complementary therapies , nursing , patients

Ethical Statement

Ethical approval (Decision Number 2022/12-16, Date: 13.10.2022) was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of XXX University to conduct the study.

Supporting Institution

No funding applied for or received.

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