Upon admission to the General Surgery clinic, patients were apprised of the study's objective, and their written and verbal agreement was acquired. Prior to the preoperative hand massage, the Patient Information Form, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Short Form General Comfort Questionnaire (SGCQ) were administered to the patients in the general surgery clinic's patient room via face-to-face interviews.

The patient rooms were single-occupancy, naturally lit, windowed, calm, quiet, and located within the clinic. Immediately before surgery, classic massage techniques including petrissage, friction, and kneading were applied to both hands for 10 minutes using baby oil on the palms, backs of the hands, and fingers. The hand massage was performed while the patient was in bed. The application lasted approximately 25 minutes. After the hand massage, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and General Comfort Scale-Short Form (SGCQ) were administered to the patients as post-test.

No intervention other than the clinic protocol was applied to this group. In the control group, Patient Information Form, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), General Comfort Scale-Short Form (SGCQ) were administered as pre-test before the operation. Just before the operation, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and General Comfort Scale-Short Form were administered as post-test.

Upon admission to the General Surgery clinic, patients were apprised of the study's objective, and their written and verbal agreement was acquired. Prior to the preoperative hand massage, the Patient Information Form, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Short Form General Comfort Questionnaire (SGCQ) were administered to the patients in the general surgery clinic's patient room via face-to-face interviews. The patient rooms were single-occupancy, naturally lit, windowed, calm, quiet, and located within the clinic. Immediately before surgery, classic massage techniques including petrissage, friction, and kneading were applied to both hands for 10 minutes using baby oil on the palms, backs of the hands, and fingers. The hand massage was performed while the patient was in bed. The application lasted approximately 25 minutes. After the hand massage, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and General Comfort Scale-Short Form (SGCQ) were administered to the patients as post-test.

The scale was developed by Spielberger et al. Reliability and validity were carried out by Öner and Le Compte. The scale consists of two sub-units that measure anxiety separately, but in this study, the state anxiety scale that the individual feels indirectly from the stressful situation will be used. It is a 4-point Likert-type scale consisting of 20 items and short statements. The total score obtained from the scale varies between 20 and 80, and a high score indicates a high level of anxiety.

It was developed by Kolcaba to determine the comfort requirements of the individual. The Turkish validity and reliability study of the scale was conducted by Sarıtaş et al. In the evaluation of the scale, negative items (items 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27) are reverse coded and summed. This 6-point Likert-type scale consisting of 28 items consists of three sub-dimensions: refreshment (1-9 items), relaxation (10-18 items) and superiority (19-28 items). The lowest score that can be obtained from the scale is 28 and the highest score is 168. As the score obtained from the scale decreases, it indicates that the comfort level of the individual is low.