Özet:

World Health Organization (WHO) refers to Traditional and Complementary and Alternative Medicine and defines traditional medicine as: “The sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness”. In the United States, the concept has recently been defined as complementary health approaches within the framework of holistic medicine, while in Turkey, similar to WHO, it is used as traditional and complementary medicine (GETAT). The use of holistic approaches to health has increased in the care centers both in the world and in Turkey. In particular, researchers have been investigating the potential benefits of integrative health care in a variety of situations, including pain management, symptom relief in cancer patients and survivors, and programs promoting healthy behavior. In nursing, the holistic care concept is considered to be within the scope of human mind-body-soul integrity. It is seen that holistic developmental care has been proposed in the newborn period in recent years and in this context, holistic care practices have been used to minimize the effect of environmental factors (light, sound, smell, touch etc.). Jean Watson, the theorist of the Human Care Theory, suggests using care-healing methods in nursing and recommends complementary therapies on the basis of these methods. In the literature, complementary health approaches such as massage, tactile/kinesthetic stimulation, therapeutic touch, reflexology, acupressure, acupuncture and music are listed to alleviate various diseases and symptoms in newborns. In 2014, a regulation on GETAT applications was issued in Turkey and 15 methods were included in this regulation. However, it is seen that the application of these methods is very limited in newborns. In this context, there is a need to discuss the complementary health approaches widely used in newborns in the world and the practices in Turkey. Such a discussion is thought to raise awareness of the health professionals working with newborns and to support the design of studies with high level of evidence, which may eventually be reflected in practice.

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