EFFECT OF THERAPEUTIC TOUCH ON PAIN RELATED PARAMETERS IN PATIENTS WITH CANCER: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Communication as Healing Art in Caring for Persons with Alzheimer's and Dementia

ABSTRACT

Communication is an essential aspect of care for all patients but is especially important for individuals with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. Nurses who care for persons living with dementia (PwD), as well as family members and caregivers, need understanding of verbal and nonverbal communication techniques and approaches that are effective throughout the stages of dementia. Spiritual assessment and care also are critical. This article provides evidence-based and biblical examples for communication as a healing art in caring for PwD.

Biofield therapies: Guidelines for reporting clinical trials

A set of guidelines has been developed to help improve reporting of clinical trials of biofield therapies. The need for enhanced transparency when reporting trials of this family of integrative health practices, e.g., External Qigong, Healing Touch, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch, has been advocated in systematic reviews of these studies. The guidelines, called Biofield Therapies: Reporting Evidence Guidelines (BiFi REGs), supplement CONSORT 2010 by including details of the intervention protocols relevant to biofield therapy trials. BiFi REGs evolved through a draft document created by a core group, two rounds of a Delphi process with an international group of subject matter experts and two panels, meeting via Zoom, which included editors of complementary and integrative medicine journals. BiFi REGs comprises a 15-item Intervention checklist. Modifications of two other CONSORT topic areas are also proposed to enhance their relevance to trials of biofield therapies. Included for each item are an explanation, and exemplars of reporting from peer-reviewed published reports of biofield therapy trials. When used in conjunction with all other items from CONSORT 2010, we anticipate that BiFi REGs will expedite the peer review process for biofield therapy trials, facilitate attempts at trial replication and help to inform decision-making in the clinical practice of biofield therapies.

Biofield therapies: Guidelines for reporting clinical trials

A set of guidelines has been developed to help improve reporting of clinical trials of biofield therapies. The need for enhanced transparency when reporting trials of this family of integrative health practices, e.g., External Qigong, Healing Touch, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch, has been advocated in systematic reviews of these studies. The guidelines, called Biofield Therapies: Reporting Evidence Guidelines (BiFi REGs), supplement CONSORT 2010 by including details of the intervention protocols relevant to biofield therapy trials. BiFi REGs evolved through a draft document created by a core group, two rounds of a Delphi process with an international group of subject matter experts and two panels, meeting via Zoom, which included editors of complementary and integrative medicine journals. BiFi REGs comprises a 15-item Intervention checklist. Modifications of two other CONSORT topic areas are also proposed to enhance their relevance to trials of biofield therapies. Included for each item are an explanation, and exemplars of reporting from peer-reviewed published reports of biofield therapy trials. When used in conjunction with all other items from CONSORT 2010, we anticipate that BiFi REGs will expedite the peer review process for biofield therapy trials, facilitate attempts at trial replication and help to inform decision-making in the clinical practice of biofield therapies.

Biofield Therapies: Guidelines for Reporting Clinical Trials

Highlights Guidelines have been created to improve the reporting of clinical trials of biofield therapies, e.g. External Qigong, Healing Touch, Reiki, and Therapeutic Touch. Appropriate use of these guidelines is likely to strengthen the evidence base for biofield therapies as well as increase their usage as stand-alone practices and as complementary therapies within mainstream healthcare.

Biofield Therapies: Guidelines for Reporting Clinical Trials

A set of guidelines has been developed to help improve reporting of clinical trials of biofield therapies. The need for enhanced transparency when reporting trials of this family of integrative health practices, eg, External Qigong, Healing Touch, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch, has been advocated in systematic reviews of these studies. The guidelines, called Biofield Therapies: Reporting Evidence Guidelines (BiFi REGs), supplement CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) 2010 by including details of the intervention protocols relevant to biofield therapy trials. BiFi REGs evolved through a draft document created by a core group, two rounds of a Delphi process with an international group of subject matter experts and two panels, meeting via Zoom, which included editors of complementary and integrative medicine journals. BiFi REGs comprises a 15-item Intervention checklist. Modifications of two other CONSORT topic areas are also proposed to enhance their relevance to trials of biofield therapies. Included for each item are an explanation, and exemplars of reporting from peer-reviewed published reports of biofield therapy trials. When used in conjunction with all other items from CONSORT 2010, we anticipate that BiFi REGs will expedite the peer review process for biofield therapy trials, facilitate attempts at trial replication and help to inform decision-making in the clinical practice of biofield therapies.

Terminally ill patients' and their relatives' experiences and behaviors regarding complementary and alternative medicine utilization in hospice palliative inpatient care units: a cross-sectional, multicenter survey

BACKGROUND

Terminally ill patients often experience exacerbations of diseases that render mainstream medicine ineffective in relieving symptoms, prompting attempts at complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This study collected data from terminally ill patients and their relatives to determine differences between CAM use, behavioral patterns, and perceptions of health information about CAM.

METHODS

A cross-sectional design using a self-administered questionnaire was adopted. Eight medical institutions in Taiwan with inpatient hospice palliative care units were chosen. Ninety-two terminally ill patients and 267 relatives met the inclusion criteria. The questions concerned the experience of CAM use, the kinds of products/services CAM provided, the purpose of CAM use, the source of CAM information, and the perceptions and attitudes toward CAM.

RESULTS

Both terminally ill patients and their relatives have a high proportion of lifetime and one-year prevalence of CAM use (88.0% vs. 88.4%; p = 0.929). CAM use for musculoskeletal and neurological discomfort is higher among terminally ill patients than among their relatives. Relatives/friends are the most frequent sources of information on CAM (53.3% vs. 62.2%; p = 0.133). The percentage of terminally ill patients who discontinued mainstream medical treatment because of CAM use was higher than that of their relatives (18.5% vs. 9.3%; p = 0.026). More than half the terminally ill patients and their relatives had never been asked about CAM by medical staff (64.1% vs. 66.7%), nor had they informed medical professionals about the use of CAM products and services (63% vs. 66.9%). Random inquiries by medical professionals may be associated with increased disclosure of CAM use (terminally ill patients: odds ratio, 9.75; 95% confidence interval, 1.97-48.35 vs. relatives: odds ratio, 5.61; 95% confidence interval, 2.66-11.83).

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence and concealment of CAM use in terminally ill patients should be considered. Medical professionals should establish a friendly and barrier-free communication model, encourage patients to share CAM experiences, and provide evidence-based information on the use of CAM products and services, to reduce the potential damage caused by harmful use.

Bioenergy therapies as a complementary treatment: a systematic review to evaluate the efficacy of bioenergy therapies in relieving treatment toxicities in patients with cancer

PURPOSE

Bioenergy therapies are among the popular alternative treatment options for many diseases, including cancer. Many studies deal with the advantages and disadvantages of bioenergy therapies as an addition to established treatments such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation in the treatment of cancer. However, a systematic overview of this evidence is thus far lacking. For this reason, the available evidence should be reviewed and critically examined to determine what benefits the treatments have for patients.

METHODS

In June 2022, a systematic search was conducted searching five electronic databases (Embase, Cochrane, PsychInfo, CINAHL and Medline) to find studies concerning the use, effectiveness and potential harm of bioenergy therapies including Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, Healing Touch and Polarity Therapy on cancer patients.

RESULTS

From all 2477 search results, 21 publications with 1375 patients were included in this systematic review. The patients treated with bioenergy therapies were mainly diagnosed with breast cancer. The main outcomes measured were anxiety, depression, mood, fatigue, quality of life (QoL), comfort, well-being, neurotoxicity, pain, and nausea. The studies were predominantly of moderate quality and for the most part found no effect. In terms of QoL, pain and nausea, there were improved short-term effects of the interventions, but no long-term differences were detectable. The risk of side effects from bioenergy therapies appears to be relatively small.

CONCLUSION

Considering the methodical limitations of the included studies, studies with high study quality could not find any difference between bioenergy therapies and active (placebo, massage, RRT, yoga, meditation, relaxation training, companionship, friendly visit) and passive control groups (usual care, resting, education). Only studies with a low study quality were able to show significant effects.

Robot touch with speech boosts positive emotions

A gentle touch is an essential part of human interaction that produces a positive care effect. Previously, robotics studies have shown that robots can reproduce a gentle touch that elicits similar, positive emotional responses in humans. However, whether the positive emotional effects of a robot's touch combined with speech can be enhanced using a multimodal approach remains unclear. This study supports the hypothesis that a multimodal interaction combining gentle touch and speech by a robot enhances positive emotional responses. Here, we conducted an experiment using a robotic arm to perform a gentle touch combined with speech and compared three conditions: touch alone, speech alone, and touch with speech. We assessed participants' subjective ratings of valence, arousal, and human likeliness using subjective emotional responses. Furthermore, we recorded facial electromyography (EMG) from the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles and measured skin conductance levels (SCLs) as physiological emotional responses. Our results show that touch combined with speech elicited higher subjective valence and arousal ratings, stronger zygomaticus major EMG and SCL activities than touch alone. The results suggest that the positive emotional effects of robotic touch can be boosted by combining elements of speech.

The effects of therapeutic touch on spiritual care and sleep quality in patients receiving palliative care

PURPOSE

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of therapeutic touch (TT) on spiritual care and sleep quality in patients receiving palliative care.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The research was conducted on 73 inpatients receiving palliative care in a training and research hospital. Data were collected with Socio-Demographic Status Questionnaire, Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale (SSCRS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

FINDINGS

As a result of this study, a statistically significant difference was found between the intervention and control group SSCRS (Z = -7.356 p = 0.000) and PSQI (Z = -7.292 p = 0.000) in post-test data after 4 weeks of TT application.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The results revealed that TT application has a positive impact on spiritual care and sleep quality of the patients.

A rapid evidence assessment of recent therapeutic touch research

AIM

To synthesize the most recent evidence investigating the effectiveness and safety of therapeutic touch as a complementary therapy in clinical health applications.

DESIGN

A rapid evidence assessment (REA) approach was used to review recent TT research adopting PRISMA 2009 guidelines.

METHODS

CINAHL, PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane databases, Web of Science, PsychINFO and Google Scholar were screened between January 2009-March 2020 for studies exploring TT therapies as an intervention. The main outcome measures were for pain, anxiety, sleep, nausea and functional improvement.

RESULTS

Twenty-one studies covering a range of clinical issues were identified, including 15 randomized-controlled trials, four quasi-experimental studies, one chart review study and one mixed methods study including 1,302 patients. Eighteen of the studies reported positive outcomes. Only four exhibited a low risk of bias. All others had serious methodological flaws, bias issues, were statistically underpowered and scored as low-quality studies. No high-quality evidence was found for any of the benefits claimed.

[Esophageal pH-impedance monitoring of reflux patterns in non-erosive reflux disease, reflux hypersensitivity and functional heartburn]

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the differences in reflux patterns in 24-hour esophageal pH-impedance monitoring in patients with non-erosive reflux disease (NERD), reflux hypersensitivity (RH) and functional heartburn (FH) and explore the possible mechanism of symptoms in patients with heartburn and negative endoscopic findings.

METHODS

Seventy-nine patients with heartburn as the main symptoms but negative endoscopic findings, including 35 with NERD, 16 with RH and 28 with FH, were enrolled in this study.All the patients underwent 24-h esophageal pH-impedance monitoring and esophagogastroscopy, and the results were compared among the 3 groups.

RESULTS

Acid reflux episode was significantly increased and weakly alkaline reflux episode was significantly decreased in NERD group in comparison with RH group and FH group (P < 0.05).The patients in NERD group showed significantly increased total reflux episode, mixed reflux episode, proximal acid reflux episode, proximal weak acid reflux episode, total proximal reflux episode, percentage of proximal acid reflux, percentage of proximal weak acid reflux, and percentage of total proximal reflux as compared with the other two groups (all P < 0.05).Bolus clear time was significantly prolonged in NERD group compared with that in the other two groups (P < 0.05).Analysis of the reflux acidity showed that the percentages of different reflux episodes differed significantly among the 3 groups (P < 0.05);acid reflux was the main reflux in NERD, while weak acid reflux was the main reflux in RH and FH groups, which had also significantly increased weakly alkaline reflux episodes compared with NERD group.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with NERD, RH and FH had different reflux patterns.Acid reflux is predominant in the NERD, while weakly alkaline reflux is significantly increased RH and FH.In patients with normal esophageal acid exposure but without symptoms or without recorded symptoms during esophageal pH-impedance monitoring, analysis of the total reflux episode, mixed reflux episode, proximal acid reflux episode and percentage can help in the differential diagnosis between RH and FH.

Effect of Therapeutic Touch on Sleep Quality in Elders Living at Nursing Homes

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of therapeutic touch on sleep quality in the elderly people living in the nursing homes. The study is a randomized controlled experimental study (pretest-posttest control group). The sample of the research consisted of 25 elderly people. As a result of the study, although there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the sleep quality of each group, no significant difference was found between the groups (p > 0.05). Therapeutic touch is an effective method of improving the sleep quality of the elders living at a nursing home.