Slow-Stroke Back Massage Intervention for Relieving Postpartum Fatigue in Primiparous Mothers after a Natural Delivery: A Randomized Clinical Trial in Zabol

Introduction: Fatigue is one of the most prevalent phenomenon reported by post-partum mothers and have various effects on their physical, emotional and cognitive aspects. Back massage relaxation techniques are one of the most important non-pharmacological interventions to prevent and control postpartum-related fatigue. This study aims to evaluate the relieving effect of slow stroke back massage on post-partum fatigue in primiparous mothers after a natural delivery.

Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical interaction was consist of a convenience sample of 100 primiparous mothers who had a normal, spontaneous vaginal delivery, selected by census method and randomly divided into two groups, control (50) and intervention (50). The data collecting tool was included Individual demography and fatigue severity questionnaire. After completing questionnaires by the units, slow stroke back massage was performed for 6 sessions. And after the end of the sixth session, fatigue severity of intervention group patients and control group were measured again Data were analyzed using Independent t-Test, Chi-squared test, Fisher exact test, two-way ANOVA with repeated measures and Bonferroni test.

Results: The arithmetic mean and standard deviation of fatigue severity were48.25±7.46 in control group, (before the intervention) and 51.15±9/61 in intervention group, that shows there is no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P<0/001). After performing the massage process, the fatigue severity mean was 47.25±8.32 in the control group and 40.32±13.98 in the interaction group and the difference was statistically significant (P <0/ 000).

Conclusion: According to results slow stroke back massage is an effective nursing and midwifery intervention to relieve postpartum fatigue in primiparous mothers after a natural delivery. The results of this study can be used in decision-making and planning for this group as well.