This study aimed to determine the effects of holding the patient's hand and using a stress ball during the Intrauterine Insemination procedure on pain, anxiety, comfort, and physiological parameters. This study will be conducted as a randomized controlled trial with a pre-test-post-test procedure in the IVF Unit of a Medical Faculty Hospital in Turkey. The study sample was planned to include 120 participants, 40 women each in the stress ball, hand-holding, and control groups. Data will be collected using the Personal Information Form, Visual Analog Scale, State Anxiety Inventory, and General Comfort Scale Short Form. In the Stress Ball Group, participants are given a colored silicone stress ball (5-7 cm diameter) 5 minutes before the procedure. During the procedure, they are instructed to squeeze the ball twice after counting to 10 and repeat this until the procedure is complete. In the Hand-Holding Group, the researcher holds one of the participant's hands during catheter insertion and removal. The researcher's fingers are closed but not interlocked and placed gently on the participant's hand without additional movements or gloves. In the Control Group, Participants receive no additional intervention beyond the standard routine procedures.
Agreeing to participate in the study with verbal and written consent,
Being between the ages of 18-50,
Being able to read and write in Turkish,
Not having a muscle or joint problem that prevents squeezing the stress ball
Use any analgesic agent at least 24 hours before the procedure,
Having a chronic pain disorder,
Abandoning the completion of the data collection forms,
Needing urgent intervention by a physician during or immediately after the procedure,
Parallel
Stress Ball Group
BehavioralParticipants are given a colored silicone stress ball (5-7 cm diameter) 5 minutes before the procedure. During the procedure, they are instructed to squeeze the ball twice after counting to 10 and repeat this until the procedure is complete.
Hand-Holding Group
BehavioralThe researcher holds one of the participant's hands during catheter insertion and removal. The researcher's fingers are closed but not interlocked and placed gently on the participant's hand without additional movements or gloves.
Personal Information Form
This form, which includes the characteristics of the patients, consists of 10 questions, including age, education level, marital status, employment status, income level, type of infertility, duration of infertility problem, and cause of infertility. The patient's physiological parameters (pulse, respiration, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and oxygen saturation values (SpO2) before and after the procedure will also be recorded using this form.
Visual Analog Scale
It will be used to determine the pain intensity experienced by infertile women during IUI. The pain level varies between 0-10, and the increase in the marked numerical value indicates an increase in the pain level. In the VAS evaluation, 0=no pain, 1-4=mild pain, 5-6=moderate pain, and 7-10=severe pain (Zielinski et al., 2020).
State Anxiety Inventory
The scale Spielberger et al. (1970) developed to measure the individual's state and trait anxiety level, reliability, and validity in Turkish was conducted by Öner and Le Compte (1983). The scale measures anxiety. It consists of two sub-units that are measured separately: state anxiety requires the individual to describe how they feel at a certain moment and under certain conditions, and trait anxiety requires the individual to describe how they generally feel. In this study, the state anxiety scale will be used since the anxiety that the individual feels indirectly from the stressful situation they are in will be evaluated. The total score obtained from the scale varies between 20 and 80, with a high score indicating a high level of anxiety.
General Comfort Scale Short Form
The Kolcaba (2006) scale was developed to measure patients' comfort. The scale consists of 28 items in 6-point Likert type in 3 sub-dimensions: relief (9), relaxation (9), and overcoming problems sub-dimension (10 items). The highest total score from the scale is 168 points; the lowest total score is 28 points (Çıtlık et al., 2018)
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