• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1255-1264
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a 3-week somatosensory stimulation program on the integrity of the somatosensory pathway of patients with brain damage. Method: The sample consisted of two groups of patients with brain damage matched by Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores and age:8 patients with a mean age of 56.75 years who were treated with somatosensory stimulation, and 8 patients with a mean age of 58.88 years, who were not treated with sensory intervention program. A repeated measures matched-control group design was used to assess functional recovery of the brain. The instrument used in this study was SSEP (somatosensory evoked potentials), a neurophysiological parameter, for the integrity of the somatosensory pathway. Results: The hypothesis that patients with brain damage who were treated with the somatosensory stimulation program will show higher SSEP wave form scores than the non-treatment group was supported (3rd week.: U=13.000, p=.014). Additional repeated measures analysis showed that there were no significant differences in recovery trends between the groups (F=1.945, p=.159). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a somatosensory stimulation program is effective in promoting recovery of the integrity of the somatosensory pathway of patients with brain damage.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.885-896
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• 2001

This study was to examine the rate of recovery from the consciousness impairment from two sessions of comprehensive consciousness stimulation program. Which was developed for this study, was higher than the one which was obtained naturally with only conventional care. Method: The subjects were selected among the patients who were admitted in the Intensive Care Unit or in the Sub-Intensive Care Unit in one of the university hospital, located in Inchon. For the treatment of the deterioration of his/her consciousness level resulting from neurological causes. Results: The effect of the first intervention on consciousness state began to appear two weeks the intervention initiation and to disappear two weeks after the end of the intervention. The significant effect of the second session of the consciousness stimulation program also began to appear two weeks the second intervention initiation and persisted until 4 months after intervention was terminated. Conclusion: It appeared that the first intervention effect had gradual onset and gradual decay, while the second intervention effect had gradual onset and permanent duration.