Use of Breathing Exercises and Stress Balls During Dressing Changes in Burn Patients

Launched by HASAN KALYONCU UNIVERSITY · Jul 28, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is looking at whether simple activities like breathing exercises and squeezing a stress ball can help reduce pain and anxiety when burn patients have their dressings changed. Managing pain and stress is very important for healing burns, so the study wants to see if these easy techniques can make dressing changes more comfortable and improve vital signs like heart rate.

People who might join this study are adults between 18 and 65 years old who have burns covering 15% or less of their body, mostly on their arms, legs, hands, feet, or torso. They need to be getting outpatient care (meaning they don’t stay overnight in the hospital), able to understand and speak Turkish, and have wounds that are past the first few days of healing but not fully healed yet. Participants should not have serious breathing problems or other health issues that affect pain or healing. During the study, patients will be asked to do breathing exercises and use a stress ball while their dressings are changed, to see if these methods help ease discomfort and anxiety. This trial is not yet recruiting participants but aims to find gentle, non-drug ways to support burn recovery.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Between the ages of 18 and 65, seeking outpatient treatment at the burn centre,
• • Without mental, hearing, visual or physical disabilities,
• • Able to speak and understand Turkish,
• • With a burn injury of 15% or less of the total body surface area (TBSA) and requiring dressing changes,
• • At least three days have passed since the burn injury (the wound has passed the inflammatory phase of healing),
• • Not in the maturation phase of wound healing,
• • Burn area is on the hand, arm, leg, foot, or torso,
• • No active burns on the hands,
• • No respiratory issues.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Patients with neurological or psychiatric disorders,
• • Patients with burns covering less than 15% of their body surface area or with no second-degree burns,
• • Patients with burns in areas other than the hands, arms, legs, feet, and torso,
• • Patients admitted to the burn centre,
• • Patients with inhalation burns,
• • Patients who receive sedation during dressing changes,
• • Patients with complications such as infection or bleeding in the burn area,
• • Patients who use pharmacological or non-pharmacological methods that may affect pain during dressing changes.