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Research: GHESQUIERE and COLLEAGUES,
Listed in Issue 283
Abstract
GHESQUIERE and COLLEAGUES, 1 Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 2180 3rd Avenue, New York, NY, 10035, United States. angelarg6@gmail.com ; 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York, NY, United States.; 3 Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, United States; 4 University of Colorado Hospital, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, United States conducted a secondary analysis of data from a multi-site study which compared MT to simple touch in 380 adults with advanced cancer.
Background
Massage therapy (MT) may be more effective for certain subgroups of advanced cancer patients, but this is not well-studied. Psychological symptoms are one potential moderator of MT outcomes, as they occur frequently in MT patients.
Methodology
Therefore, we conducted a secondary analysis of data from a multi-site study which compared MT to simple touch in 380 adults with advanced cancer. We examined whether the presence of depression or baseline psychological symptom frequency moderated outcomes of change in pain, interference of pain, quality of life, 60-second heart and respiratory rates, and physical distress.
Results
We found significant main effects of depression and baseline psychological symptom frequency on changes in pain, 60-second heart and respiratory rates, quality of life, and physical distress for both MT and simple touch, but did not find differential responses between groups in moderator analyses.
Conclusion
Results imply that psychological interventions could be targeted to patients with cancer who are receiving any type of touch therapy to improve outcomes.
References
Angela Ghesquiere 1 , Katarzyna Wyka 2 , Marlaine Smith 3 , Jean S Kutner 4. Associations between psychological symptoms and treatment outcomes of a massage therapy intervention: Secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial. Complement Ther Med; 46:116-122. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2019.07.014. Epub 2019 Jul 23. Oct 2019.
