Effect of Nursing Interventions Using Foot Reflexology on Blood Pressure and Quality of Life of Hypertensive Patients at Mansoura University Hospitals: Preliminary Results

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of foot reflexology on blood pressure and quality of life among hypertensive patients. A quasi-experimental study was conducted for patients with hypertension attended the outpatient clinic of the Specialized Medical Hospital at Mansoura University, Egypt, enrolled in this study during six months, between 15 May and 14 October 2010 were randomly allocated into two equal groups (40 in the foot reflexology group (intervention), and 40 in the control group. Two tools were used for data collection: I : Demographic and medical interview schedule. II: Quality of Life Questionnaire. Systolic blood pressure decreased significantly in intervention group from 160.2mmHg to 136.5mmHg compared to (162.5mmHg to 155.2mmHg) in controls. There was a statistically significant decrease in means of diastolic blood pressure between pre and post intervention (102.0mmHg –87.5mmHg) within the intervention group (p<0.05), Change in control group was not proved to be statistically significant (100.1mmHg –96.4mmHg pre and post readings respectively, p>0.05). There was no evidence for improvement in Quality of Life in either group (pre levels was 42.2, 47.1 and post levels was 45.9, 47.4 in the 2 groups respectively). This study supported that foot reflexology can reduce blood pressure levels in patients with hypertension, it did not support that foot reflexology could improve quality of life in these patients. Future research is needed to support these findings specially the negative ones. It is recommended that qualitative research might be used in combination with quantitative research to determine details of patients' feelings, interactions, attitudes, cultural influences and satisfaction after intervention.