The Effects of Meridian Massage on the Behavioral State and Weight in Infants

경락마사지가 신생아의 행동상태와 체중에 미치는 효과

Purpose: This study was implemented to develop new nursing intervention, Meridian Massage, and to investigate its effect on weight, behavioral state in infants. Method: This study has been conducted on the non equivalent control group pretest-posttest design in quasi experimental basis and newly born infants from Postpartum Management Center were selected in two groups of 35 infants. Data has been collected from February 1st to October 30th of 2002. The experimental group(20) took Meridian massage for 15 minutes daily twice during 6 days and control group took Field massage as same time. Weight has been determined 10:00 hours everyday morning and behavior status has been determined before and after 5 minutes beth by Anderson et al.(1990) tools. Data was analyzed by SPSS 11.0 Program using t-test, χ2-test and repeated measures ANOVA. Result: The results were as follow. In the aspect of behavioral status, Meridian massage group(55.8%) showed increase「positive」state than Field massage group(42.6%). And there was statistical significance(p=.002). Meridian massage group showed higher in the average weight than Field massage group(F=6.753, p=.014), and there was significant term between the two groups(F=10.129, p=.000). But there was no interaction group and term. Conclusion: The Meridian Massage in this study showed more positive aspect in weight gain and positive behavior status than Field Massage. This study has informed that meridian massage is an effective nursing intervention in improving Infant development.