Effects of a Recreation Therapy Program on Mental Health and Heart Rate Variability in Burn Rehabilitation Patients.
10.7586/jkbns.2015.17.2.179
- Author:
Myung Sook KIL
1
;
Mi Hwa LEE
;
Yong Mi LEE
Author Information
1. Doctoral Student, Department of Nursing, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Burns rehabilitation;
Recreation therapy;
Mental health;
Heart rate variability
- MeSH:
Anxiety;
Burns*;
Depression;
Fatigue;
Heart Rate*;
Heart*;
Humans;
Mental Health*;
Nursing;
Recreation Therapy*;
Recreation*;
Rehabilitation*
- From:Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
2015;17(2):179-187
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate the effects of a recreation therapy program on burn rehabilitation patients to determine if the program is an effective nursing intervention which can affect mental health problems and heart rate variability. METHODS: Subjects were 54 hospitalized burn rehabilitation patients (25 in the control group, 29 in the experimental group). The experimental group participated 6 times in a recreation therapy program led by a qualified instructor. Brief symptoms inventory-18 (somatization, anxiety, depression) questionnaire, and heart rate variability were checked before and after the recreation therapy program. RESULTS: The mental health scale showed significant differences in somatization (p<.001), anxiety (p<.001) and depression (p<.001). There was no significant difference in heart rate variability (autonomic activity, autonomic balance, stress resistance, stress parameter and fatigue, mean heart rate, electro-cardiac stability). CONCLUSION: The findings from this study suggest that a recreation therapy program is an effective nursing intervention to decrease the level of mental health problems of burn rehabilitation patients. However, a subsequent study is needed to develop an intervention program that will induce the effect of physiological parameters like heart rate variability (HRV).
