Nonpharmacological Method for Relief of Episiotomy

The study is a randomized controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of acupressure applied to primiparous pregnant women who underwent episiotomy in the early postpartum period.The research was carried out between August 2022 and November 2022 at Düzce University Health Practice and Research Center with mothers who gave vaginal birth. The research was carried out with two groups as acupressure and control groups. The sample number was calculated using the G*Power 3.1.9.2 program and the acupressure group: 30 and the control group: 30. It was collected the research data with the Introductory Information Form and Visual Analog Scale. The participants in the acupressure group were interviewed at the 3rd and 5th hours after birth. The application announcement was made and they were allowed to sign the voluntary consent form. The VAS was filled by the participant before the application. Acupressure was applied to SP6, ST36 and LI4 points for a total of 12 minutes. After the application, the VAS was filled again by the participant.No application was made to the control group. The data of the research was evaluated using the Statistical Package 22.0 program for Social Sciences. In the evaluation of the data; descriptive statistics was given as percentage, arithmetic mean±standard deviation, median and minimum-maximum values. Independent two-sample t-test was used for normally distributed variables and Mann-Whitney U test was used for non-normally distributed variables. Pearson Correlation test was applied to determine the relationship between the pain intensity of the acupressure group and the tests and to determine the relationship between the tests. Statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05.

Inclusion Criteria:Elementary school or higher education18 years and over,Primiparous,Episiotomy was applied,Having a normal delivery in the hospital where the study was conducted,Able to speak and understand Turkish,No medical treatment to affect the pain,Perineal pain score is above 4 according to VAS (Visual analog scale),Participants who voluntarily agree to participate in the study will be included in the study.Exclusion Criteria:Does not have sufficient mental health to fill out the questionnaire,Experiencing postpartum complications (bleeding, infection, etc.),With impaired tissue integrity in the area to be applied,Having genital infectionHeir in perineum,Taking painkillers in the last 6 hours,Smoking or using alcoholPharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention to reduce postpartum perineal pain,Excluding episiotomy in a different region of the perineum, In addition, those who want to leave the research at any stage of the research will be excluded from the research.