Does massage with or without essential oils enhance relaxation in hospitalized children with burn injuries in South Africa?

The primary outcome is the mean difference between before and after massage behavioral scores from videotaped material assessed by a researcher who is blind for treatment allocation.<br>
Assessment instruments:<br>
1. Muscle Tension Inventory: The Muscle Tension Inventory (MTI) has been validated by Tan et al. (2010) in burn patients aged 8 to 71 years of age.(Tan, Yowler et al. 2010) The MTI evaluates muscle tension of each of 8 body areas (forehead, eyes, facial expression, mouth/jaw, head/neck, chest, arms, legs) on a scale from 1 (relaxed) to 5 (tense) giving a total score between 8 to 40;<br>
2. Behavioral Relaxation Scale: The Behavioral Relaxation Scale (BRS) has been validated in adults and children (Schilling and Poppen 1983; Raymer and Poppen 1985; Norton, Holm et al. 1997). It consists of a description of 10 postures or behaviors characteristic of a fully relaxed person: 1) breathing – scored as relaxed if less than the baseline rate; 2) quiet – no vocalizations; 3) body – no movement of the trunk; 4) head in midline; 5) eyes – closed with smooth eyelids; 6) jaw – lips parted in center; 7) throat – no movement; 8) shoulders – sloped and even, no movement; 9) hands – curled in ‘claw like’ position; 10) feet – pointed away from each other forming an approximate 90° angle. The total score ranges from 0 (totally relaxed) to 50 (totally not relaxed) with lower scores indicating greater relaxation;<br>
3. COMFORT behavior scale: The COMFORT behavior scale (van Dijk, de Boer et al. 2000; Ista, van Dijk et al. 2005) has been validated in children between 0-to-3 years of age. It consists of six items: 1. Alertness; 2. Calmness; 3. Respiratory response (for ventilated children) or Crying (for spontaneously breathing children); 4. Body movements; 5. Facial tension; and 6. Muscle tone. Each item has five response alternatives rated 1 to 5 representing the different intensities of the behavior in question. Summating the six ratings leads to a total score, theoretically ranging from 6 to 30.