Massagem no recém-nascido pré-termo: é um cuidado de enfermagem seguro?

introduction: this quantitative experimental study evaluated the massage effects on preterm neonates hospitalized in neonatal intermediate care units as far as their physiological stability is concerned. material and methods: the sample consisted of 32 clinically steady and healthy preterm neonates, hospitalized in portuguese units of intermediate neonatal care. the neonates preterm were randomly distributed in two groups - control and experimental, having each group an equal number of 16. the groups did not present statistically significant differences in some basic features thus forming some equivalent groups. the experimental group had an average of 30,11 weeks of pregnancy, 1,326kg at birth and 20,44 days of hospitalization in the intermediate care unit. the control group had an average of 30,94 weeks of pregnancy, 1,400kg at birth and 17,81 days of hospitalization in the unit of intermediate care. during the study, both groups received the same pattern of neonatal care, except for the experimental group that received the massage. the managed massage was the tiffany field (touch research institute) massage, during five consecutive days in three daily periods. it was managed by nurses from the respective units, being these executions trustworthily validly done, with homogeneity between the different executants of the almost perfect technique (96,7 %) and with high validity execution (96,77 %) 1. results: to evaluate the effect of massage in the stability of the preterm neonate, the physiological parameters measured were: respiratory and cardiac frequency, oxygen saturation, blood pressure and temperature. we verified that there are no statistically significant differences between the groups for what we may conclude that the massage is a safe nursing care in terms of the organization of the autonomous subsystem. conclusions: the achieved results suggest that the massage in the healthy and clinically stable preterm neonate hospitalized in neonatal intermediate care