Jul 3, 2019
This episode features Dr Bridget Candy and Dr Megan
Armstrong (Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department,
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London,
UK)
Conventional therapies are not always sufficient to provide
satisfactory relief of symptoms to those at an advanced stage of a
disease. Evidence on the effectiveness of
complementary therapies improving the well-being of people
with advanced diseases is uncertain; however, palliative care
services often offer such therapies as a way to reduce stress and
promote relaxation. This systematic review of qualitative
studies found cancer patients (irrespective of disease stage)
viewed complementary therapies as providing a sense of physical
and psychological well-being. Participants with advanced
cancer perceived an improvement in their physical and psychological
well-being during and after the complementary
therapy session. Participants with advanced cancer
experienced a form of escapism or living in the moment that took
away their worries about their disease and
future. Participants with advanced cancer highlight how
they would like the complementary therapy delivered including the
importance of building a special relationship with the
complementary therapist and a need for more frequent
sessions. Hospices and other palliative care environments
should continue/consider offering aromatherapy, reflexology and
massage where possible and it should be seen as an important
aspect of the palliative care people receive. Researchers
should develop complementary therapy interventions in the ways in
which the palliative care population, with cancer and other
advanced diseases, wish them to be delivered.
Full paper available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269216319846440
If you would like to record a podcast about your published (or
accepted) Palliative Medicine paper, please contact Dr Amara
Nwosu: anwosu@liverpool.ac.uk