Effects of Self-administered Acupressure in Psychiatric Patients With Constipation

This study is to evaluate the effects of self-administered acupressure therapy for psychiatric in-patients with constipation Two main research questions include: 1. What are the effects of the standardized self-administered acupressure program on reducing those adult psychiatric patients' symptoms of constipation? 2. What are the psychiatric patients' (participants') perceived benefits and limitations of self-administered acupressure on management of their constipation? In this study, the participants who met the study criteria and completed the baseline measurement would be randomly assigned into either the self-administered acupressure program, or a sham control group who receive a placebo, non-acupoint pressure. The null hypotheses of this study are: 1. There is no significant difference between the acupressure and sham group immediately and/or two weeks after the completion of intervention on patients' symptom severity of constipation; and 2. There is no significant difference between the acupressure and sham group on patients' perceived quality of life at immediately and two weeks after treatment completion.