The Effect of "Quantum Touch" Application on Transfer Anxiety in Pediatric Patients and Their Parents Planned to Be Hospitalized in the Emergency Department

Anxiety, which is a subjective experience in which many emotions such as worry, uncertainty, restlessness, and sadness are experienced together, is defined as "a state of tension that arises as a result of the internal conflict experienced by the individual". Emergency services are the units where all kinds of patients and injured are followed and treated 24 hours a day, and anxiety is a very common emotional reaction in patients who apply to the emergency department and their relatives. The patient and his family; They experience varying levels of anxiety due to a sudden and unexpected deterioration of health, the threat of their life, the uncertainty of the situation, the fear of death, role changes, disruption of routines, and being in an unfamiliar hospital environment. With the increase of anxiety, distraction in family members, repetitive questions to health personnel, inability to understand the importance of the event and difficulty in making decisions can be seen.Leaving the emergency room as well as being in the emergency room causes anxiety in individuals. The anxiety experienced in this situation is called transfer anxiety. Transfer anxiety is often defined as "anxiety experienced by an individual when he/she moves from a safe and familiar environment to an unfamiliar environment" and was accepted as a nursing diagnosis by NANDA in 1992. Transferring the patient from the emergency room to the clinic is a routine procedure for emergency nurses, but it causes anxiety for the patient and their relatives. As a result of transfer anxiety, many patients and their family members experience widespread confusion both before and after transfer and tend to certain problems. The patient and family members experience anxiety when they are in a foreign environment with different routines and follow-up procedures for the first time and do not know what to expect. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods are used to reduce anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy techniques are frequently used among non-pharmacological methods. Cognitive-behavioral therapies are a form of treatment developed on the basis of behavioral psychological counseling theory, which is problem-focused, deals with the "here and now" and applies learning theories to help individuals when they encounter difficulties and life problems that they cannot overcome in their daily lives. Cognitive-behavioral therapies that are highly suitable for working with children, youth, adults, the elderly and families; They are easy to work with individually or in groups and do not require any hardware. Among cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, therapy strategies that reduce anxiety include relaxation, biofeedback, systematic desensitization, exercise, vestibular desensitization, response prevention, and therapeutic touch techniques. Therapeutic touch; In 1972, it was started to be used as a healing method by the manipulation of hypothetical human bioenergy field by nurse professor Doores Krieger. In the literature, it is frequently applied to reduce pain and anxiety in nursing studies and successful results are obtained. Quantum-Touch; It is one of the therapeutic touch techniques and is a biofield therapy that uses life force energy to facilitate healing. Quantum-Touch was first described by Richard Gordon and Bob Rasmusson in 1978; It activates life force energy by combining various hand positions, various breathing techniques and body awareness exercises. It is applied by directing the formed high energy field to an area of pain, stress or illness through therapeutic touch. Tully (2017) found that Quantum Touch in reducing acute and chronic pain; Walton (2011) reported that Quantum-Touch application is effective in chronic musculoskeletal pain. The patient and/or the patient's family may be physically ready for relocation in the hospital environment, but they are not psychologically ready. Inadequate preparation of the individual for the transfer from the emergency room to the clinic or lack of information about the transfer, perceiving that his safety is under threat, and experiencing uncertainty about his situation cause transfer anxiety. Although it is seen in the literature that transfer anxiety is applied in adults and generally in intensive care units, no study has been found in children and emergency services.