Integrative Care Therapies and Physiological and Pain-related Outcomes in Hospitalized Infants

Background: Pain management is a frequent problem in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Few studies examining effects of integrative care therapies on pain-related outcomes in neonates have included physiological outcomes or investigated the use of such therapies in a practice-based setting. Objective: The purpose of this practice-based retrospective study was to examine the associations between integrative care therapies, particularly massage and healing touch, and pain-related outcomes among hospitalized infants. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of a clinical database from a level III NICU regularly delivering integrative care therapies. Paired-samples t-tests were used to examine associations between integrative care therapies and 4 pre-post outcome measures: therapist-rated pain and presentation (ranging from asleep to agitated) and neonates’ heart rate and oxygen saturation. Results: Of 186 patients (M age =68 days), 58% were male and 67% were Caucasian. Sixty-two percent received both massage and healing touch; the remainder received a single therapy. From pre-post therapy, statistically significant changes were observed in infants’ heart rate (M pre =156 vs M post =140 per minute; P<.001), oxygen saturation (M pre =95.0% vs.M post =97.4%; P<.001), and therapist-reported pain (M pre =2.8 vs M post =0.2; P<.001) and presentation (M pre =3.2 vs. M post =1.0; P<.001). Conclusion: Observed improvements in pain-related outcomes suggest that massage and healing touch may be useful integrative therapies to consider as pain management options in the NICU.