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R
E S E A R C H
Touch Therapies
Reduce Complications, Increase Comfort after Bone Marrow Transplant
Massage therapy reduced neurological
complications and increased patients' perception of the benefits
of therapy following a bone marrow transplant. Both massage therapy
and Therapeutic Touch® significantly increased patients'
comfort after the bone marrow transplant, according to a recent
study.
"Outcomes of
Touch Therapies During Bone Marrow Transplant" was conducted
by Marlaine Smith, R.N., Ph.D., and Francelyn Reeder, R.N., Ph.D.,
of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Nursing;
Linda Daniel, R.N., Ph.D.; Julaluk Baramee, R.N., Ph.D.; and Jan
Hagman, R.N., clinic coordinator of the Outpatient Bone Marrow Transplant
Unit of the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver.
Participants were
patients 18-70 years old who received either an autologous or allogeneic
bone marrow transplant (BMT), mostly for breast cancer or lymphoma,
but also for leukemias. An autologous BMT involves the collection
of the patient's own bone marrow, which is frozen and reinfused;
an allogeneic BMT is the transplantation of another person's marrow.
The sample population
of 61 patients was stratified and randomly assigned to one of three
treatments: massage therapy, Therapeutic Touch, or a control group
called the friendly visit.
Subjects in the massage-therapy group
received a 30-minute, standardized Swedish massage. Those in the Therapeutic
Touch group received a half-hour, standard session, which consisted
of conscious energy exchange using the hands as a focus for facilitating
healing. Subjects in the friendly visit group spent 30 minutes engaged
in social conversation.
Three outcome
variables were measured to assess the effects of touch therapies
on people who undergo BMTs: time for engraftment, which occurs when
newly infused blood-forming cells begin producing blood; complications
during treatment, which involved the measurement of 11 specific
functions such as food intake, central nervous system/neurological,
cardiac and circulation; and patients' perception of the benefit
of therapy, which involved a survey asking subjects to rate the
degree of feelings such as support, comfort, well-being, pain and
anxiety.
In the assessment
of complications, researchers found that subjects in the massage-therapy
group had significantly lower scores for central nervous system
or neurological complications, such as disorientation, agitation,
anxiety, numbness, headache and insomnia.
"This
diminishing effect on neurological complications is important in
enhancing the quality of life during BMT," state the study's
authors. "Massage-therapy patients may be able to rest more
easily, communicate with their family members, and feel less depressed
and anxious during this critical time."
No statistical
differences were found among the three groups for time for engraftment.
Participants in the massage-therapy group perceived that they received
significantly greater benefits from the therapy than those in the
friendly visit group. Subjects in both the massage-therapy and the
Therapeutic Touch group had comfort scores significantly higher
than subjects in the friendly visit group.
- Source: University
of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Nursing and Hospital
in Denver. Authors: Marlaine Smith, R.N., Ph.D.; Francelyn Reeder,
R.N., Ph.D.; Linda Daniel, R.N., Ph.D.; Julaluk Baramee, R.N., Ph.D.;
and Jan Hagman, R.N. Originally published in Alternative Therapies
in Health and Medicine, January/February 2003, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.
40-49.
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