Effects of Benson’s relaxation technique on comfort level of patients before coronary artery bypass grafting (A clinical trial)

Background: Comfort, especially before major surgeries, is regarded as a basic patient need. Lack of this issue is mainly due to neglect of healthcare staff. Therefore, performing effective nursing interventions to provide comfort is of paramount importance. This study aimed to determine the effect of Benson’s relaxation technique on patient comfort before coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on patients admitted to a hospital in Qazvin, Iran, to undergo CABG surgery in the first half of 2016. In total, 64 patients were selected through convenience sampling and randomly divided into control and intervention groups. Benson’s relaxation technique was performed for the intervention group in the form of two 30-minute sessions in the evening of the day before surgery and morning of the surgery day. Data were collected using a demographics form and Kolcaba’s General Comfort Questionnaire pre- and post-intervention. Data analysis was conducted in SPSS, version 19, using Chi-square, as well as independent and paired t-test.

Results: Before the intervention, mean comfort scores of the subjects in the intervention and control groups were 57.37±7.71 and 54.9±4.31, respectively. These means were reported to be 35.96±8.84 and 53.43±3.65 in the intervention and control groups after the intervention, respectively, revealing a significant difference between the study groups in this regard (P<0.001).

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, Benson’s relaxation technique had positive effects on promoting patient comfort before CABG. Therefore, this simple, non-invasive, cost-effective, and beneficial method can be used to enhance patient comfort.