Abstract

• The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of a postpartum massage program on stress response in the Cesarean section mothers. The study focused on evaluating the effect of postpartum massage program on mood, anxiety, skin temperature and concentration of saliva and breast milk immunoglobulin A in the Cesarean section mothers. This study was designed as a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study. Twenty-eight Cesarean section mothers were selected as experimental group, whereas twenty- seven were control group. The postpartum massage program consisted of 20 minutes of warm-up, massage and ending phases and used once a day. During each program, there were 4 minutes of warm-up, 14 minutes of massage on back, axillary and breasts, and 2 minutes of ending. Massage were used for the experimental group by the same investigator 20 times per minute. The massage technique used were efflurage, petrissage, accupressure, kneading and vibration. Skin temperature was monitored with YSI Tele-thermometer(Simpson electric Co., USA) before and after massage program. The concentration of immunoglobulin A in saliva and breast milk was analyzed by immunoturbididimeter assay(Cobas INTEGRA, Roche, Swiss) before and after massage program. Also at this time mood and anxiety were measured by self-report. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 7.5 and hypothesis was tested with ANCOVA analysis and Pearson coefficient correlation. The results were as follows : 1) Score of mood increased significantly after use of postpartum massage program. 2) Level of anxiety decreased significantly after use of postpartum massage program. 3) Skin temperature increased significantly after use of postpartum massage program. 4) Concentration of saliva immunoglobulin A increased significantly after use of postpartum massage program. 5) Concentration of breast milk immunoglobulin A did not change significantly after use of postpartum massage program. 6) After use of postpartum massage program, there was significant correlation between psychological stress response and physiological stress response. The results suggest that postpartum massage program can be effective nursing intervention to reduce stress response in the postpartum mothers under stress.
• Keywords: Postpartum massage program; Mood; Anxiety; Skin Temperature; Immunoglobulin A

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