Background: Control of preoperative anxiety especially before cesarean section, is one of the most important goals of nursing care around the world. Aim of study : To determine the effect of acupressure on preoperative cesarean section anxiety. Methods: Forty primiparae undergoing elective cesarean section surgery, were selected from El Galaa Teaching hospital, Cairo, Egypt , their age ranged from 20- 35 years, and BMI was less than 30 kg/m2. They were divided randomly into two groups equal in number, (group A) Study group, consisted of twenty women who received acupressure in two points (HE7 and Yintang) for 5 minutes each 30 minutes before surgery and (group B) control group, consisted of twenty women who received acupressure in two ineffective points (sham points) for 5 minutes each , 30 minutes before surgery. All women on both groups (A &B) were assessed pre and post treatment through assessing their vital signs: heart rate, and blood pressure to indicate the state of a patient's essential body functions Also, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (questionnaire) for measuring the circumstantial or temporary arousal of anxiety. Results : There was no statistical significant difference in heart rate between the pretreatment values compared to post treatment values in both groups (A&B) and there was no significant difference between both groups (A&B) when comparing heart rate post treatment values , while for systolic and diastolic blood pressure in group (A) there was a statistical significant decrease in post treatment values compared with pretreatment values, while there was no statistical significant difference between the pretreatment and post treatment values in group (B).When comparing the post treatment values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure of both groups there was a statistical significant decrease for favor of group (A) when compared to group (B), and for the Stait trait anxiety inventory questionnaire there was a statistical significant decrease between the pretreatment values compared to the post treatment values in both groups .When comparing the post treatment values of both groups there was a statistical significant decrease for favor of group (A) than group (B). Conclusion: Application of acupressure is effective in decreasing preoperative cesarean section anxiety.
