Highlights
- •Comforting touch helps decrease preterm infant stress responses.
- •Comforting touch could be an adjunct for pain relief during painful procedures.
- •Comforting touch is insufficient pain management for highly intrusive procedures.
Abstract
Problem
Preterm infants experience numerous stressors in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Non-pharmacological interventions, including maternal comforting touch, reduce stress
responses of preterm infants; however, the effects of clinician-administered comforting
touch are unclear. The purpose of this integrative review was to synthesize findings
from clinical trials to determine the effect of clinician-administered comforting
touch on preterm infants' acute stress responses.
Eligibility criteria
Eligible clinical trials were published in English between 2001 and October 2021 and
reported effects of clinician-administered comforting touch on acute stress responses
in preterm infants.
Sample
Thirty clinical trials were included.
Results
Researchers tested the effect of comforting static touch, massage, massage with kinesthetic
stimulation, sensorial saturation, and Yakson. There was significant heterogeneity
in study design, comparison condition, and context of intervention delivery. Results
varied; some studies demonstrated efficacy of comforting touch in reducing acute stress
responses and others showed no effect. Generally, comforting touch provided during
stressful procedures was associated with lower stress responses compared to standard
care and was an effective adjunct to other stress management strategies. However,
comforting touch alone was insufficient for managing pain, especially during skin-breaking
procedures.
Conclusions
While comforting touch may be a useful part of stress management plans for preterm
infants, additional research is needed to determine when comforting touch is appropriate
and effective.
Implications
Comforting touch is beneficial to preterm infants and should be provided for stress
management. For highly intrusive or painful procedures, comforting touch can be provided
as part of a comprehensive stress management plan.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 19, 2022
Accepted:
August 29,
2022
Received in revised form:
August 26,
2022
Received:
July 19,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
