J Korean Acad Nurs.  2005 Feb;35(1):177-185.

The Effects of Foot Reflexology on Nausea, Vomiting and Fatigue of Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

• Yang JH

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of foot reflexology on nausea, vomiting and fatigue in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. METHOD: The research was a quasi-experimental study using a non-equivalent pre-post design and was conducted from Jan. 26, to Mar. 20, 2004. The subjects consisted of 34 patients with 18 in the experimental group and 16 in control group. A pretest and 2 posttests were conducted to measure nausea, vomiting and fatigue. For the experimental group, foot reflexology, which was consisted of 4 phases for 40 minutes, was given by a researcher and 4 research assistants. The collected data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA using the SPSS WIN 10.0 program. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant decrease in nausea, and vomiting in the experimental group compared to the control group over two different times. In addition, there was a statistically significant decrease in fatigue in the experimental group compared to the control group over two different times. CONCLUSION: Foot reflexology was effective on nausea, vomiting and fatigue in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy in this study. Therefore, foot reflexology can be usefully utilized as a nursing intervention in the field of cancer nursing for breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Keyword

Foot reflexology; Nausea . vomiting; Fatigue; Breast cancer; Chemotherapy

MeSH Terms

Vomiting/chemically induced/*prevention & control
Nausea/chemically induced/*prevention & control
Middle Aged
*Massage
Humans
*Foot
Female
Fatigue/chemically induced/*prevention & control
Breast Neoplasms/*drug therapy/nursing
Antineoplastic Agents/*adverse effects/therapeutic use
Adult