title: Research on the Effect of the Foot Bath and Foot Massage on Residual Schizophrenia Patients.
abstract: Researchers performed foot baths and massages for residual schizophrenia patients to gauge the effects on psychiatric symptoms. Subjects were six residual schizophrenia patients hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. Three times a week for 4weeks, they received an 8-minute effleurage massage to their legs after a 10-minute foot bath. The effect of physiological relaxation was identified by a significant decline in heart rate in all cases. The results of the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale are as follows: a mean score of 29.0 was measured before treatment, which lowered to 21.5 after treatment, indicating that foot care improved their negative symptoms (p<0.05).The results of the Quality of Life Scale before the foot care intervention, were 10.5 and increased to 34.0 after the intervention, indicating improvement in their quality of life (p<0.05). The results of the two measurements indicate that foot baths and massages were effective in improving psychiatric symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Meio University, Health Sciences, Nago, Okinawa, Japan. Electronic address: k.kito@meio-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kazuko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kito
authors.affiliation: Meio University, Health Sciences, Nago, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001494:Baths / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology