Effectiveness of Warm Water Footbath on Temperature and Fatigue among Children with Fever

Abstract

Context: A fever can have various causes. Fever can be the only sign of a sick child. It may be combined with several problems.
Aim: Evaluate warm water footbath effectiveness on the temperature and fatigue level among children with fever.
Methods: Quasi-experimental pre/post, study, and control groups design was used. A non-probability purposive sample was composed of 100 children, 50 in each study, and control groups, their ages ranged from 6-to 12 years with fever. The study was conducted in the Medical and Surgical wards, Emergency Unit (ER), Oncology and Hematology Units, and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Children's Hospital affiliated to Ain Shams University. Four tools were used. A Structured Interviewing Questionnaire. It is composed of two parts; the first part was concerned with the socio-demographic characteristics of children. The second part was concerned with the child's medical history. The second tool was the Child's Vital Signs Chart (pre & post). It was used to assess the child's vital signs, especially temperature. The third tool was Fatigue Scale Child (FS-C), and the fourth tool was Fatigue Scale Staff (FS-S) (pre & post) were used to assess the fatigue level among children pre- and post-applying warm water footbath from child perceptions and researcher's evaluation as a staff. The intervention was a warm water footbath applied for 20-30 minutes.

Results: The mean score level of children's age was 10±1.3 & 10±1.5 years for both the study and control groups, respectively. Nearly two-thirds of them (68% &62%) were boys in the study and control groups, respectively. There were significant differences in the temperature and fatigue score among children with a fever between the study and control groups after the application of warm water footbath therapy. Also, statistically significant differences between the children's mean scores of temperature and fatigue pre- and post-footbath in the study group children.

Conclusion: Warm water footbath is effective in reducing the temperature and fatigue level among children with fever. Recommendations: Warm water footbath should be involved in fever management protocol for children as a complementary therapy, and further studies with a large sample and another age group of children in another setting are also recommended.