Effectiveness of hot water foot bath therapy in reduction of temperature among children (6-12 years) with fever in selected hospitals at Mangaluru

Abstract

Background: Fever is a natural response of the body that helps in fighting off foreign substances such as micro organisms and toxins. Hot water foot bath therapy causes blood vessels to dilate and improves blood circulation, which releases heat in the form of sweat and supplies oxygen to brain cells which aids in the elimination of toxins. The immersion of the body or part of the body in a water bath stimulates circulation and reduces body temperature. Objectives 1. To determine the body temperature of the children (6-12 years) in both experimental and control group as measured by digital thermometer. 2. To evaluate the effectiveness of hot water foot bath therapy among the children (6- 12 years). 3. To find out the association of body temperature with the selected demographic variables. Design: Quasi experimental pre test post test control group design. Methodology: The population of the study was children 6-12 years admitted with fever. Purposive sampling technique was used for selecting the study subjects (60). Intervention: Pre-test axillary temperature was assessed for experimental and control group and recorded immediately in the observational chart. The experimental group received the hot water foot bath therapy (immersing of feet and ankles in hot water) for a period of 15 minutes with the water temperature 1000F - 1100F. The post-test temperature of the experimental group was checked immediately after the intervention. Results 1. The study showed that there was a very high significant difference between the pre test and post test reduction in body temperature in the experimental group t value 8.068 at P value 0.0001. Also the significant difference of post test body temperature between the experimental and control group t(58)=1.99 at p