ArticleJournal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)2014
Effect of a brief seated massage on nursing student attitudes toward touch for comfort care.
Article in Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physical relaxation for occupational stress in healthcare workers: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of occupational health · 2021Pooled it
- Mental Health Impact of Massage and Massage Therapy for Survivors of Domestic and Family Violence and/or Sexual Abuse: A Scoping Review.International journal of therapeutic massage & bodywork · 2025Article
- Effects of couples positive massage programme on wellbeing, perceived stress and coping, and relation satisfaction.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile massage has been removed from nursing curricula, studies have reported massage as safe and effective for stress reduction, relaxation, pain relief, fatigue, and quality of life.
objectiveTo compare the efficacy of two intensities of touch administered during two seated massages on the attitudes of nursing students toward touch for their self-care and patient care.
participantsNursing students who volunteered gave institutional review board-approved written informed consent to undergo massage by a licensed massage therapist. SETTINGS/LOCATION: A private room adjacent to the nursing lab in a school of nursing.
interventionBrief seated massages of differing intensities. Each participant received low-intensity and high-intensity touch in a two-block, randomized order, within-subjects design. Linear mixed models nested within subject and random intercept analyses were used to test hypotheses in this two-treatment, two-sequence, two-period crossover design. OUTCOME MEASURES: Health questionnaires/visual analogue scales pertaining to physical/affective/and attitudinal status were completed before and after each massage.
resultsTwenty-nine participants (93% female, 83% single) completed the study. Before massage, the optimal intensity of touch anticipated for self-comfort was 6.6 (0=no pressure;10=most intense pressure imaginable). The mean touch intensities were 6.7 for high-intensity massage and 0.5 for low-intensity (p<0.001). The overall percentage differences (feeling better or worse) following massage were as follows: low intensity, 37.5% better; high intensity, 62.7% better (p<0.001). Significantly more improvement was reported for energy, pain, stress, and feeling physically uptight after high-intensity compared with low-intensity (p<0.03). Participants were more likely to both receive touch for self-care and provide touch for patient care after experiencing high- versus low-intensity massage (p<0.01).
conclusionsHigh-intensity seated massage was more efficacious than low-intensity massage and positively influenced nursing student attitudes toward the inclusion of massage in self-care/patient care. The role of touch for self-care/patient care in the nursing curricula merits reconsideration.
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