Explore the Body Constitution of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Nurses

Monday, 18 November 2019

Wen-Chun Chen, MSN
Department of Nursing, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung City, Taiwan
Jui-Fen Cheng, MHA, MS, RN
School of Nursing, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore 1. body constitution (BC) of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in Nurses, 2. the influence factors of BC.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaires survey was used, 293 nurses at seven military hospitals in Taiwan, aged 20-45 and with over 6 months of clinical nursing experience were recruited. Data were collected by structured questionnaires, which including demographic, life style and body constitution questionnaire (BCQ) in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). SPSS 20.0 was adopted for data analysis to carry out descriptive and deductive statistics.

Results:

This study indicated that (1) More than sixty percent of nurses were classified as unbalanced BC types including Yin-Xu, Yang-Xu and Stasis; 30.7% of nurses had a gentleness BC types; (2) Nurses with unbalanced BC types exhibited unhealthy daily habits, such as caffeine intake, late-night snacks, no regular exercises, and a segmented sleep pattern. (3) Logistic regression analysis indicated that the factors correlated with unbalanced BC types were “years of working”, “segmented sleep patterns”, “premenstrual syndromes” and “perception of stress”. Odds ratios and confidence intervals for correlation between nurses with premenstrual syndrome and their body constitutions are as follows: Yin-Xu (OR = 1.312, 95% CI = 1.286-7.726), Yang-Xu (OR = 4.493, 95% CI = 1.692-11.931), and Stasis (OR =5.397, 95% CI = 1.944-14.982), all of which show significantly positively correlated. Odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) for correlation between nurses with segmented sleep pattern and their body constitutions are as follows: OR = 1.954, 95% CI = 1.155-3.304 for those with Yin-Xu body constitution, OR = 2.025, 95% CI = 1.192-3.442 for those with Yang-Xu body constitution, and OR = 1.784, 95% CI = 1.062-2.996 for those with Stasis body constitution, all of which show significant correlation. OR and CI for correlation between nurses’ working-years and their body constitutions are as follows: OR = 1.095, 95% CI = 1.049-1.142 for those with Yin-Xu body constitution, OR = 1.081, 95% CI = 1.036-1.127 for those with Yang-Xu body constitution, and OR = 1.055, 95% CI = 1.013-1.098 for those with Stasis body constitution, all of which show significant correlation. OR and CI for correlation between nurses who perception of stress and their body constitutions are as follows: OR = 1.380, 95% CI = 1.188-1.604 for those with Yin-Xu body constitution, OR = 1.430, 95% CI = 1.227-1.667 for those with Yang-Xu body constitution, and OR = 1.353, 95% CI = 1.167-1.568 for those with Stasis body constitution, all of which show significant correlation.

Conclusion:

The working style of nurses cannot be changed, Itis suggested that the individual should maintain good daily life styles, decrease the amount of caffeine intake and frequency of late-night snacks, maintain regular exercises, refrain from a segmented sleep pattern, and stress management to avoid the occurring of unbalanced BCs. It is suggested for the nurses to utilize the BCQ in TCM to evaluate their own body constitutions in TCM, so that early detecting and conditioning and caring of unbalanced body constitutions can be conducted to achieve the goal of "preventive treatment of disease" by TCM.