ABSTRACT
One of the important activities nursing is the alleviating of discomfort including pain as providing comfort to patient. Postoperativediscom has been underestimated because it is only a part of postoperative physiological process and disappear in time. The study was designed to investigate the effect of relaxation technique on postoperative discomfort of patients with lumbosacral back pain. A total of 40 patients were selected as a subject from August 12th to October 10th 1995 who had been hospitalized at NS and OS nursing units in K medical center. Of them twenty were in the experimental group and the remaining twenty were in the control group in convenience sampling. The tools for study were Relaxation technique, designed to use postoperative setting adequately by Park, and Postoperative Discomfort Scale. The data were analyzed by use of t-test an x2 test. The study was concluded as follows : The main hypothesis, that "the experimental group who used relaxation technique will express a lesser score of postoperative discomfort than the control group who did not use relaxation technique" is divided into seven sub-hypotheses. Hypothesis 1, that "the experimental group will express less postoperative pain than the control group"was supported(t=-7.52, p=0.000). Hypothesis 2, that "the experimental group will express less postoperative feeling of unpleasantness than the control group"was supported(t=-7.04, p=0.000). Hypothesis 3, that "the experimental group will express less postoperative immobilization discomfort than the control group"was supported(t=-6.66, p=0.000). Hypothesis 4, that "the experimental group will show fewer nonverbal expressions of postoperative distress than the control group"was supported(t=-3.75, p=0.01). Hypothesis 5, that "the experimental group will use analgesic medication less frequently than the control group" was supported(t=-4.15, p=0.000). Hypothesis 6, that "the experimental group will have less change in vital sings between the pre and postoperative periods than control group"was supported only for respiratory rate(t=-4.06, p=0.000). Hypothesis 7. that "the experimental group will express less postoperative voiding difficulty than the control group"was not supported(t=0.06, p=0.951). As a result, this study showed that relaxation technique has the effect to postoperative discomfort of the patients with lumbosacral back pain, so the researcher thought it is enable for nurses to help patients undergoing postoperative discomfort.