The effect of foot reflexology on general health of patients with depressive episodes

Abstract

Depression is a major public health problem. It causes loss and disease burden. This pre-experimental research aimed to determine the effects of foot reflexology on general health of patients with depressive episodes. Ten subjects who had been diagnosed as depressive were purposively selected from inpatient department, Sakaeo Rajanakrindra Psychiatric Hospital Research instruments were demographic questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire, and the manual for Foot Reflexology. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon Signed - Ranks test were used to analyze the data.

The results revealed that there were significant differences between the mean scores of general health of the sample group  before  experiment  and  after  2  weeks  of  receiving  foot  reflexology  (p < .01). These  findings  suggest  that  nurses  and healthcare practitioners should adopt foot reflexology in order to improve general health of patients with depression.