J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs.  2020 Dec;31(4):447-458. 10.12799/jkachn.2020.31.4.447.

The Effects of Auricular Acupressure Therapy on Sleep Disorder and Fatigue in Menopausal Women

• Ryu EJ
• Choi SE

• KMID: 2512152
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2020.31.4.447

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of auricular acupressure therapy on sleep disorder and fatigue in menopausal women.
Methods
The study design was a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were 40~60 years old women, assigned to the experimental group (n=25) or the control group (n=27). Auricular acupressure using vaccaria seeds was administered to the experimental group. The sessions continued for 6 weeks. Outcome measures included Pittsburgh sleep quality index, sleep meter, sleep diary, fatigue assessment instrument, serum cortisol, and serum serotonin.
Results
Menopausal women in the experimental group showed significant increases in deep sleep, light sleep, serotonin level and sleep duration compared with the control group. Also, the experimental group reported decreases in PSQI, sleep latency, awakening time, fatigue and cortisol level compared with the control group.
Conclusion
Results show that auricular acupressure using vaccaria seeds is considered as an effective treatment for sleep disorder and fatigue in menopausal women. We conclude that it can be used as a nursing intervention method proven to reduce sleep disorder and fatigue in menopausal women.

Keyword

Acupressure; Menopause; women; Sleep wake disorders; Fatigue