BACKGROUND: Pain management and good sleep are essential for patients after surgical procedures. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of footbath on postoperative pain severity and sleep quality levels of patients who have undergone degenerative lumbar spine surgery. METHODS: Sixty patients were randomly assigned to the footbath intervention group or the control group. The intervention was a 20-minute footbath in 42°C water before patients fell asleep on the evening of the surgery day. On the morning of the surgery day and the morning of postoperative day, the patient's pain severity and sleep quality scores were obtained using the visual analog scale and the Visual Analog Sleep Scale. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the pain severity scores of the study groups ( P > .05). The sleep quality level of the intervention group was statistically significantly higher than that of the control group ( P < .05). CONCLUSION: Consequently, a footbath is effective in increasing sleep quality levels of patients who have undergone degenerative lumbar spine surgery. It may be used as a simple and practical nonpharmacological nursing strategy for improving patients' sleep quality.
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