Evaluation of the Effect of Reciting the Word “Allah” on the Pain and Anxiety of Dressing Change in Burn Patients

Backgraund: patients hospitalized in burn wards suffer severe anxiety before going into a dressing room and in spite of opioid administration experience pain and anguish when dressing is changed and during the hospitalization period. as soon as these patients hear the word “dressing room” they show signs of distress. referring to the verse “only by reciting the name of god the hearts will find peace” and the fact that the word “reciting” has been repeated for 260 times in quran we decided to examine the effect of hazrate zahra praises (including 100 recitations of the word “allah”) on the anxiety before and during dressing change so that in case it is effective opioid administration and the resulting unfavorable side effects are controlled.objectives: the study at hand was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of reciting the word “allah” on the pain and agony of dressing change in burn patients.materials and methods: the present study is a quasi-experimental research. the cases under study are 30 burn patients hospitalized in the burn ward of hazrate ayatollah moosavi treatment and training center. sampling method was objective-based. data was collected through questionnaires including three parts. the first part dealt with demographic characteristics, second part with pain intensity assessment using beyer’s index and the third part with hospital anxiety depression scale (hads) and anxiety assessment. data was analyzed using spss 16, paird t-test and chi2 test.results: the results indicated that 57% of the cases under study were men. their mean age was 33. 5 and 68% of the patients suffered second and third degree burns. mean pain intensity of dressing change without “reciting” was 85. 7 and mean pain intensity of dressing change “reciting” the word was 21. 5. paired t-test showed that the difference was statistically significant (p=0.002). mean anxiety level before “reciting” was 12. 14 which decreased to 9. 15 after “reciting”. paired t-test indicated that this difference was statistically significant too (p=0.001).conclusions: the findings of the study at hand are indicative of the successful effect of reciting in alleviating pain and reducing anxiety. ayatollah makarem e shirazi notes in the first volume of tafsire noomune that “reciting the name of allah causes the individual to feel more mental ability or strength and the individual will not fear the immensity of problems”. also many psychologists and psychiatrists have found that praying, reciting and complete attention to god (with all senses and wholeheartedly) distracts the individual from life challenges and mind concerns thus eliminating the sense of fear, worry and perturbation and creating a sense of inner peace