فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

BACKGROUND: Pruritus is a common skin manifestation in patients undergoing hemodialysis.Pruritus has a negative impact on the quality of life of patients receiving hemodialysis. This studywas aimed to investigate the effect of foot reflexology massage on pruritus in hemodialysis patients.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quasi‑experimental study was conducted on 90 hemodialysispatients referred to Khatam‑al‑Anbiya and Ali‑Ebne Abi‑Taleb hospitals affiliated to ZahedanUniversity of Medical Sciences in 2019. Patients with moderate‑to‑severe pruritus scores obtainedfrom the Pruritus Severity Scale (PSS) were included in the study. They were randomly divided intointervention and control groups using shuffling cards or envelopes. The intervention group receivednine sessions of foot reflexology massage 3 days a week for 20 min (10 min on each foot) with anemphasis on the solar plexus point. The participants in both groups again completed the PSS 48 hafter the intervention. Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 24, independent t‑test, Chi‑squaretest, and paired t‑test.RESULTS: The results of this study demonstrated that foot reflexology massage significantly reduceditching or pruritus in hemodialysis patients (P < 0.001). Pruritus scores in the control group werestatistically significant (P < 0.001). There was no significant statistically difference between the twogroups in terms of the pruritus scores before the intervention (P = 0.59).CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that the foot reflexology massage could relieve itching orpruritus in hemodialysis patients. It is, therefore, recommended that it can be used as an effectiveintervention technique to alleviate itching in hemodialysis patients.