Effect of honey mouth-care on xerostomia among semiconscious and unconscious patients

A quasi-experimental study was conducted to find out the effect of honey mouth-care on xerostomia among semiconscious and unconscious patients in a selected hospital of Odisha. In this study, an experimental research approach and non-randomized control group design were adopted. 40 patients were selected by the non-probability purposive sampling technique and who met the inclusion criteria were selected for the study. A self-structured interview schedule and record analysis performa were used for collecting socio-demographic data. The Challacombe Scale was used to assess the level xerostomia among the selected patients. In unpaired 't' test, there was a significant difference between the level of xerostomia among the experimental group and control group as 't' value was -6.03 (p<0.0001), which represented that honey mouth-care was effective in reducing the level of xerostomia. In paired 't' test, there was a significant difference between the level of xerostomia in pre-test and post-test score among the experimental group as 't' value was -6.45 (p<0.0001) which represented that honey mouth-care was effective in reducing the level of xerostomia. The chi-square association between levels of xerostomia with selected demographic variables revealed that there was a significant association between the level of xerostomia with age and history of the previous hospitalization. No significant association found between the level of xerostomia with the socio-demographic data and the duration of semi-consciousness or unconsciousness and duration of xerostomia. The findings of the study revealed that honey-mouth-care was highly effective in reducing xerostomia among semiconscious and unconscious clients.