The Effect of Emotional Freedom Technique on Anxiety Levels of Nurses Caring for COVID19 Patients

NCT ID: NCT05758636

Last Updated: 2023-03-07

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 100 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-03-02
• Study Completion Date: 2023-06-01

Brief Summary

It is very important to protect and improve the physical, mental and social health of nurses, especially in the event that nurses frequently encounter patients diagnosed or suspected of COVID-19 and are exposed to the virus for a long time due to the long duration of care, increasing cases and the death of their colleagues. Que et al., 2020). Current researches have made it necessary for nurses to have difficulties in effectively coping with the anxiety experienced in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world, and to apply new effective methods, as their training includes effective coping methods (Feinstein and Church, 2010). There are studies that are effective in reducing stress and anxiety, such as meditation, yoga, and breathing therapies, which are recommended to prevent the increase in stress and anxiety levels that may occur in nurses by evaluating the experienced situations (Labrague et al., 2020; Vieta et al., 2020). In addition to these applications, it is seen that Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) has been increasingly used recently in controlling and reducing anxiety (Hartmann, 2016). EFT is a type of energy-based psychotherapy that combines the components of Western psychology and Eastern medicine, applied to eliminate negative thoughts and feelings and problems related to emotions (İnangil et al., 2020; Church, 2013). Although the EFT technique is used in many different areas today, its effect on the level of anxiety in nurses during the COVID-19 process is not yet known. As a result, to evaluate the effect of EFT, whose positive results have been proven by many studies, on the anxiety level of nurses caring for COVID-19 patients.

Detailed Description

It is very important to protect and improve the physical, mental and social health of nurses in the event that they are exposed to the virus for a long time due to the frequent encounters with patients diagnosed or suspected of COVID-19 and the long duration of care, increasing cases and the death of their colleagues (Que et al., 2020). Current researches have made it necessary for nurses to have difficulties in effectively coping with the anxiety experienced in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world, and to apply new effective methods, as their training includes effective coping methods (Feinstein and Church, 2010). It is very important to protect and improve the physical, mental and social health of nurses, especially in the event that nurses frequently encounter patients diagnosed or suspected of COVID-19 and are exposed to the virus for a long time due to the long duration of care, increasing cases and the death of their colleagues. Que et al., 2020). Current researches have made it necessary for nurses to have difficulties in effectively coping with the anxiety experienced in the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world, and to apply new effective methods, as their training includes effective coping methods (Feinstein and Church, 2010). There are studies that are effective in reducing stress and anxiety, such as meditation, yoga, and breathing therapies, which are recommended to prevent the increase in stress and anxiety levels that may occur in nurses by evaluating the experienced situations (Labrague et al., 2020; Vieta et al., 2020). In addition to these applications, it is seen that Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) has been increasingly used recently in controlling and reducing anxiety (Hartmann, 2016). EFT is a type of energy-based psychotherapy that combines the components of Western psychology and Eastern medicine, applied to eliminate negative thoughts and feelings and problems related to emotions (İnangil et al., 2020; Church, 2013). In the process of providing effective care to COVID-19 cases, nurses fulfill the requirements of their profession with their ability to anticipate some unforeseen problems created by the workplace environment and to solve these problems. Due to the challenging process that emerged with the pandemic, the treatment and care of their patients, as well as meeting many urgent needs, left nurses in a difficult situation (Labrague et al., 2020; Vieta et al., 2020). It is very important that nurses, who provide services effectively and in a competitive way during the pandemic, can protect their physical, mental and social health (Chirico et al., 2020). Although the EFT technique is used in many different areas today, its effect on the level of anxiety in nurses during the COVID-19 process is not yet known. As a result, to evaluate the effect of EFT, whose positive results have been proven by many studies, on the anxiety level of nurses caring for CO

Conditions

EFTs; Nursing Caries; Anxiety

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Emotional Freedom Technique Group

Nurses (40) enrolled in the emotional freedom technique group will receive a total of 4 rounds of EFT, 50 minutes, 3 days a week.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Emotional Freedom Technique

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Before starting the EFT session, the participants were asked to identify the problem that aroused their anxiety. After the common point of the problems was determined, the ORDS level of all participants was determined. Next, the EFT session explained traditional acupressure meridian points on the head, face, neck, chest, and hands. Next, they were asked to repeat the phrase, "Even though I have this feeling of stress and anxiety, I accept myself deeply and completely," while gently applying to the acupuncture points with their index and middle fingers. While using this expression, the participants hit each acupuncture area seven times. After the first round of hits accompanied by this phrase, participants were asked to abbreviate "this feeling of anxiety, stress" with another short phrase. The participants then repeated rounds of this process until they noticed that their anxiety had decreased

Control

Participants in the control group (n= 40) will not receive intervention throughout the study.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Emotional Freedom Technique

Before starting the EFT session, the participants were asked to identify the problem that aroused their anxiety. After the common point of the problems was determined, the ORDS level of all participants was determined. Next, the EFT session explained traditional acupressure meridian points on the head, face, neck, chest, and hands. Next, they were asked to repeat the phrase, "Even though I have this feeling of stress and anxiety, I accept myself deeply and completely," while gently applying to the acupuncture points with their index and middle fingers. While using this expression, the participants hit each acupuncture area seven times. After the first round of hits accompanied by this phrase, participants were asked to abbreviate "this feeling of anxiety, stress" with another short phrase. The participants then repeated rounds of this process until they noticed that their anxiety had decreased

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• not having been diagnosed with a psychiatric diagnosis,
• not having received any therapy including coping with stress
• not being diagnosed with COVID-19
• not being in the treatment care process
• not having applied the emotional freedom technique before, and volunteering to participate

Exclusion Criteria

• Not participating in any of the emotional freedom technique sessions
• Being diagnosed with COVID-19 during the application of therapy

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Marmara University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

gulsah okut

Phd Candidate

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Şule Ecevit Alpar, Phd

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Marmara University

Locations

Marmara University

Istanbul, Kadikoy, Turkey (Türkiye)

Countries

Turkey (Türkiye)

Other Identifiers

MrmrU

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id