Abstract

Background and Aim: Constipation is a common digestive problem in elderly people, which has a negative effect on their quality of life. There are many methods in complementary and alternative medicine to treat this problem in the elderly. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of prune as a complementary and alternative medicine on the severity of constipation in elderly women living at Zabol Elderly House. Materials and Methods: This study was an experimental study on 60 elderly women who are qualified residents living at Zabol Elderly House with constipation based on the Rom Ill diagnostic criteria. The samples were randomly assigned to experimentalintervention group and control group, consisting of 30 samples each. The tools used in this study were a demographic questionnaire and a constipation scale. Data were analyzed by SPSS Software Version 20 and Mann-Whitney Test. Results: According to the findings, the difference in the mean of constipation severity in the two groups was not significant before intervention (P = 0.61). However, at the end of the first week until the end of the third week after the intervention, there was a significant difference in the mean of constipation severity (P <0.05). This result showed that the effect of the intervention started from the first week and prune was effective in lowering the severity of constipation in the elderly women. Conclusion: This study indicated that prune could be an effective complementary and non-pharmacological method to reduce the severity of constipation in elderly women. Therefore, nurses can use this simple, inexpensive and uncomplicated method as a complementary method to care for the elderly with constipation.