The Effect of Using a Stress Ball During Vaginal Examination on Anxiety and Pain Levels: a Randomized Controlled Study

Women who will undergo vaginal examinations randomly assigned to intervention (n = 44) and control (n = 44) groups at a public hospital in Turkey will participate in the study. Stress ball application before vaginal examination will be explained to women in the intervention group. These women will be asked to tighten and loosen the stress ball given to them during the vaginal examination and continue this process until the examination is completed. Data regarding pain and anxiety outcomes will be collected before and after the examination. The main questions it aims to answer are: * question 1: What is the effect of stress ball application on women's anxiety level during vaginal examination? * question 2: What is the effect of stress ball application on women's pain level during vaginal examination?

Although vaginal examinations take less time than all other medical interventions, they create anxiety and negative thoughts in women. However, the vaginal examination has an important place in women's health as it helps detect sexually transmitted diseases, oncological processes, and all other changes early. Women shy away from gynecological examinations or postpone the examination due to the meanings they attach to gynecological examination and their physical or psychological negative experiences. This situation causes changes in the woman's health not to be detected early and to the emergence of negative consequences. For this reason, vaginal examination should not be performed in a way that increases the woman's anxiety, and methods that will facilitate the examination process should be used . Women state that they feel defenseless and that they hand over complete control to the person examining their reproductive organs, which they prefer to share only with their sexual partners . In a study evaluating the degree of physical discomfort during gynecological examination on a scale from 0 to 10, women defined the pain they experienced as six or more points. Other studies report that women have a more positive experience when techniques such as relaxation exercises, listening to music, or aromatherapy are used before or during vaginal examination. In addition to these techniques, visual, auditory, or tactile stimuli can focus women in a calmer state. Tactile stimuli, in particular, have the most effortless and natural potential for reducing anxiety or pain. The stress ball, one of the tactile stimuli, is thought to be an easy-to-use, non-invasive, non-pharmacological, inexpensive, and easily accessible method that helps the person focus elsewhere by distracting attention. Healthcare professionals need to reduce people's anxiety and ensure their comfort by developing positive coping mechanisms. Especially during the vaginal examination process, which is considered private in society, the majority of women expect nurses to be understanding and gentle and to know the methods that will make the woman feel comfortable. Lavender oil, one of the non-pharmacological applications during vaginal examination, has been shown to reduce anxiety and pain, and studies are comparing its positive effect. However, there is a need to investigate this, as there are no studies investigating the effectiveness of non-pharmacological methods of vaginal examination, especially the stress ball. No studies have been found. Although there are studies in the literature investigating the effectiveness of the stress ball, one of the non-pharmacological methods, in the treatment of various disease groups and symptoms , vaginal examination. No study has been found examining the effectiveness of a stress ball during exercise.