Effect of reflexology on anxiety and sleep of informal cancer caregiver: Randomized controlled trial

Objectives: The study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the short-term effect of foot reflexology on sleep and anxiety of informal caregivers.

Method: The study was a double-blind placebo-controlled study and conducted in an oncology unit of a university hospital. Participants were the informal caregivers of cancer patients. Reflexology and placebo intervention had applied for three consequent days. State Anxiety Inventory (SAI, 20-80 points) and Richard-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ, Visual Analog Scale) was used for data collection before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed with SPSS v25 software.

Results: Participants (n = 66, 40.17 ± 13.36 years old, ten males) were caring for the patients for 7.66 ± 6.34 months. There weren't any significant differences between the groups for SAI and RCSQ scores before the interventions. The SAI scores were found 38.91 ± 5.63 in the reflexology group and 46.30 ± 11.29 in the placebo group and the RCSQ scores were found 409.55 ± 50.08 in the reflexology group and 441.82 ± 35.51 in the placebo group. There were significant differences between the groups for SAI (p = 0.004) and RCSQ (p = 0.001) scores after the intervention. It was found that reflexology has a large effect on Anxiety (f² = 0.555) and a medium effect on sleep (f² = 0.238).

Conclusion: Foot reflexology was found as an effective intervention to reduce anxiety and improve the quality of sleep of informal cancer caregivers. The effect of placebo on reducing the anxiety of informal caregivers was found, but it wasn't as effective as reflexology.