Physiological effects of Therapeutic Body Wraps in healthy volunteers: An observational study.

INTRODUCTION: The clinical management of severe anxiety is challenging. Along with specific medication, several nonpharmacological treatments exist, among which the Therapeutic Body Wraps (TBW). While TBW is clinically known to be efficient, the absence of objective physiological measurements raised some debates about its harmlessness. AIMS: This observational study investigated TBW in healthy volunteers. METHODS: Measurements were done in 26 participants, who experienced TBW, which consisted of tightly wrapping the body in one layer of wet cold sheets and several warm blankets. These were compared to 13 participants, who rested in supine position. RESULTS: Our results showed increase in the trunk skin temperature by the end of TBW similar to rest. Somatosensory perception as assessed with quantitative sensory testing was stable after both TBW and rest. The heart and breath rates decreased both during TBW and rest. It was accompanied by increase in heart rate variability parameters and decrease in salivary cortisol levels. DISCUSSION: Our data indicate anxiolytic effect of TBW in healthy participants. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The TBW is harmless and might be used in patients, who are unable to relax by themselves and/or without anxiolytic medication. Further studies are necessary to investigate physiological response to TBW in clinical population.

Music in Seclusion Rooms-Development, Implementation, and Initial Testing of a Music Listening Device.

Although presented as a care measure, the use of seclusion rooms (SR) is controversial for both ethical and therapeutic reasons. Given that music seems to have a positive impact on psychiatric patients, offering them the possibility of listening to music might help to improve the care dimension of SR use. This study aimed to develop, implement, and test a musical listening device that would be completely at patients' disposal, easy to use and beneficial to the quality of care provided in SRs. Over a 12-week period, interviews were conducted with nurses (N = 6) caring for patients placed in an equipped SR. The music player was user friendly, encouraged patients to make choices and decisions, helping them to regain control over themselves and their behavior, and elicited various patient-nurse interactions, thus contributing to the establishment of a caring relation. Further research is warranted to examine whether the systematic use of the music player has an impact on the subjective experience of both patients and caregivers, and on daily ward routine.

"It's the First Time I Feel as One". Patients' Experience of Therapeutic Body Wraps in Swiss Public Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Wards.

Many patients suffering from serious mental illness experience severe anxiety, and those with psychosis often report feeling that their bodies are falling apart. Expert opinions reported relational benefits and tranquilizing effects of therapeutic body wraps (TBWs). Yet this adjunct nursing therapy has rarely been studied and the existing knowledge is limited to single clinical cases reported from clinicians' perspectives. This study reports on seven adult patients, whose independent accounts of TBWs were audio-recorded, transcribed and cross-analyzed. It sheds light on a commonly underestimated need among many severely ill psychiatric patients to have their anxiety addressed on a bodily level.