EXAMINATION OF NURSES’ THESES ON REFLEXOLOGY PRACTICE IN TURKEY

Dıdem Kucukkelepce 1 and Turkan Karaca 2 . 1. Research assıstant, mıdwifery departmant, adıyaman unıversıty, turkey. 2. Assıstant proffesor, nursing departmant, adıyaman universıty, turkey. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

Technological advances and scientific knowledge in the field of health have brought changes in the roles and responsibilities of nurses. As a result, there is a need for inclusion and proper use of complementary therapies in nursing interventions. At this point, nurses need to learn about therapies with multidimensional benefits such as reflexology. Reflexology is thought to have a powerful therapeutic effect between the nurse and the patient, because touching creates a safe and unbiased environment and has strong therapeutic aspect through a sincere nurse-patient relationship.
The purpose this descriptive literature study is to examine the thesis examples about reflexology practice, analyze the results of the theses, and give tangible information for researches and health personnel.

Method:-
In this descriptive study conducted between 2008 and 2016, National Council of Higher Education Thesis Center database was reviewed to assess some of the features of reflexology use in nursing initiative. Reflexology was used as the key word in the searching. Inclusion criteria for the theses to be examined were; existence of reflexology word in the title and thesis and being conducted in nursing and/or department of nursing. The theses which were accessed were evaluated according to the titles, and seven theses were eliminated among 23. A total number of 16 theses were included in the study. After they were separated as master's and doctoral theses, the theses were examined in chronological order. Numerical evaluations were used in the analysis of the data, and the thesis results were summarized as graduate or doctoral dissertation, dissertation publication year, purpose of thesis, sample group, number of participants, design of thesis, and thesis results.

Results and Discussion:-
The first thesis that used reflexology practice in the field of nursing was conducted in 2008. Seven of the theses were from Obstetrics and Gynecology Nursing department, five from Internal Medicine Nursing department, three from Fundamentals of Nursing department and one from the Child Health and Nursing department. Seven of these theses were quasi-experimental, and nine of them were randomized controlled experimental. The study was designed to evaluate the effect of foot reflexology applied to infants on the acute pain that might develop after the vaccine injection.

Quasiexperimental
Intervation: 30 Control:30 The foot reflexology applied to infants was determined to be effective on relieving them before a painful intervention and making them feel less pain during and after the intervention.
There are two master theses in nursing field which evaluated the reflexology practice (Table 1). According to the results in both theses, reflexology had effects on pain. There was a statistically meaningful fall in the points of each of the menstrual distress sub-groups and while the highest score change (% 60.27) was seen in the menstrual period of the sub-control group. Güven and Karatas, 2011 To determine the effect of foot reflexology applied to individuals with hypertension on blood pressure and quality of life. Reflexology is thought to be used as supportive to increase life quality and decrease pain and fatigue in MS patients. In doctoral theses, on different sample groups, reflexology application was investigated in order to examine its effects on nausea, vomiting, exhaustion, labor pain and quality of life( Table 2).
Results of the doctoral thesis indicate that most of the theses found reflexology application an effective method. Reflexology in the field of nursing was used for the first time in 2008 and most of the studies were found to be conducted by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Nursing. Review of the literature indicates that the studies using reflexology practice have increased in the last decades and most of them are in the field of birth and gynecological diseases [4,9] . The theses conducted in our country also have similar features. There are two master's theses and 14 doctorate theses in the field of nursing where the effectiveness of reflexology practice was assessed. Most of the studies were randomized-controlled experimental studies( Table 2). The effects of reflexology on blood pressure and quality of life in individuals with hypertension, on alleviating premenstrual distress, on sedation level and vital signs in patients with mechanical ventilation support, on dyspnea and fatigue in patients with copd, on chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting and fatigue in patients with breast cancer, on constipation in the elderly, on labor pain and duration, on dysmenorrhea and school performance. Results were examined from various aspects and positive outcomes were obtained [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] .
The literature indicates that reflexology practice was performed in a similar way for different purposes, and their effects were investigated. It is important to note that the majority of the studies are at doctoral thesis level and that they are experimental, providing the necessary conditions for the investigation of the effect of reflexology practice.

Conclusion:-
The present study revealed that reflexology was found to be effective in the majority of the theses. Various sampling group studies and application protocols are recommended to be performed as there is limited research on the issue in this field.