Abstract
The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of three different types of disposable wet towels used in bed baths. The subjects comprised 13 healthy women who underwent partial bed baths of their back, legs, and arms on different days and used different types of towels on each day (thick mesh type or thick or thin nonwoven fabric types). All of the towels were the same size, and each towel was heated to 55.0℃ in a thermostatic device. The bed bath effects were evaluated using deep temperature, skin temperature, blood pressure, heart rate (HR), short form of the profile of mood states (POMS-SF), wakening and relaxing visual analog scale (VAS), and a Likert scale for the texture of each type of towel material. The deep temperature increased for all the towel types directly after bed bath completion. For the nonwoven fabric towels (thick or thin types), there were no marked changes in autonomic nervous activity. For the thin type, increased skin temperature on both heel regions was noted directly after bed bath completion, and high evaluations of the soft texture and decreased POMS scores for tension-anxiety and decreased wakening (P ＜0.05) were observed. For the thick type, skin temperature dropped directly after completion of the bed bath, and the POMS confusion scores significantly increased. With the thick mesh type towels, increased parasympathetic nervous activity (HF) directly before bed bath completion, increased skin temperature in both heel regions directly after bed bath completion, decreased blood pressure, and lower POMS vigor and confusion scores (P ＜0.05) were observed. These results demonstrated that, of the three types of towels that were examined, the thin nonwoven fabric towels offered the best heat-retaining properties and texture for partial bed baths.
