Chapter III Research Methodology This chapter describes the methods to be used in the study.

This defines what the activity of research is, how to proceed, how to measure progress, and what constitutes success.

Research Design The researchers will utilize the two group pretest-posttest study which attempts to examine the causal relationship (Cook & Campbell, 1979) of the variables in the study. A single-blind randomized controlled trial will be undertaken to evaluate the effects of peripatellar acupressure in relieving pain post appendectomy pain. The design closely resembled an interrupted time series, with each subject receiving the proposed intervention to the selected participants. Pain score will be measured before and after the proposed interventions; intervention 1 (15-minute interval peripatellar acupressure), intervention 2 (30-minute interval peripatellar acupressure). Furthermore, the researchers will also utilize pretests and post tests regarding the effects of peripatellar acupressure on the pain relief of the participants, thus determining which is far better of the two interventions.

Research Locale The chosen environment is Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Male Surgical Ward (Ward 5), a tertiary government hospital in Cebu City which has 40-bed capacity and caters almost 60% of admitted preoperative and postoperative cases of

appendicitis who are male. In addition, the researchers also included the Female Surgical Ward (Ward 6) Surgical Department which has 20 bed-capacities and also caters 60% of admitted cases of appendicitis who are female also preoperatively and postoperatively Furthermore, Male and Female Surgical Ward was used as the locale in doing the research because almost 100% of post-appendectomy patients are admitted in the said wards and since the study centered on these patients the chosen locale are of most convenience.

Research Samples/ Sampling Technique There will be 30 different individuals that will be selected from the said locale. These individuals were selected through purposive sampling utilizing a criteria wherein to be able to qualify participants must be : (1) 1 day/24-hour post appendectomy having Mcburneys Incision; (2) within the age limitation of 21 years old to 50 years old; (3) can legally grant consent to participate; (4) has normal vital signs upon initial assessment and all throughout the duration of the experiment; (5) has only oral forms of analgesics prescribed either Mefenamic acid or Celecoxib (6) free from underlying musculoskeletal disorders such as (Osteoporosis, Osteomalacia, Duchenne Syndrome,.etc) The selected 30 participants will undergo simple random sampling through the fish bowl technique dividing them into two groups which means that there will be fifteen in each group. Group A will undergo 15-minute interval Peripatellar Acupressure; Group B will undergo the 30-minute interval Peripatellar Acupressure.

Research Instrumentation The researchers utilized a specialized pain determination scale as the main instrument in the study which is the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) (see Appendix 1) by Ronald Melzack, 1987 The McGill Pain Questionnaire has become one of the most widely used tests for the measurement of pain. It provides valuable information on the sensory, affective and evaluative dimensions of pain experience and is capable of discriminating among different pain problems despite the usefulness of specialized alternative forms the original SF-MPQ is still commonly used in diagnosis and research on a wide variety of pain problems (Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, 1987) The main component of the SF-MPQ consists of 15 descriptors (11 sensory; 4 affective) which are rated on an intensity scale as 0 = none, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate or 3 = severe. Three pain scores are derived from the sum of the intensity rank values of the words chosen for sensory, affective and total descriptors.

Statistical Treatment of Data For the first Hypothesis which is: Ho1: There is no significant difference on the efficacy of peripatellar acupressure on the reduction of pain among post- appendectomy patients. The researchers will utilize T- test for paired variables or the Paired T-test to test for any difference in the mean and standard deviation in the pain level before and after each intervention. There will be two results, one for the 15-minute interval peripatellar acupressure and one for the 30 minute interval peripatellar acupressure.

For the Second Hypothesis which is: Ho2: There is no significant difference in pain relief between 15-minute interval peripatellar accupressure and 30-minute interval peripatellar acupressure on post appendectomy patients. The researchers will utilize the T-test for independent groups to measure for any significant difference in the mean and the standard deviation of the first intervention which is the 15-minute interval peripatellar from the second intervention which is the 30-minute interval peripatellar Furthermore, the researchers also opted to use frequency of the most sensitive scoring to get the extremes and see if there is correlation among the two peripatellar acupressure intervals.