Skip Navigation



eCAM Advance Access published online on February 2, 2008
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nen006
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Aghabati, N.
Right arrow Articles by Pour Esmaiel, Z.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Aghabati, N.
Right arrow Articles by Pour Esmaiel, Z.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The Effect of Therapeutic Touch on Pain and Fatigue of Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Nahid Aghabati1, Eesa Mohammadi1 and Zahra Pour Esmaiel2

1Department of Nursing, Tarbiat Modares University and 2Department of Nursing, Shahid Beheshti Medical Sciences University, Tehran, Iran

Despite major advances in pain management, cancer pain is managed poorly in 80% of the patients with cancer. Due to deleterious side effects of pharmacology therapy in these people, there is an urgent need for clinical trials of non-pharmacological interventions. To examine the effect of therapeutic touch (TT) on the pain and fatigue of the cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, a randomized and three-groups experimental study—experimental (TT), placebo (placebo TT), and control (usual care)—was carried out. Ninety patients undergoing chemotherapy, exhibiting pain and fatigue of cancer, were randomized into one of the three groups in the Cancer Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Pain and fatigue were measured and recorded by participants before and after the intervention for 5 days (once a day). The intervention consisted of 30 min TT given once a day for 5 days between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of pain and the Rhoten Fatigue Scale (RFS) were completed for 5 days before and after the intervention by the subjects. The TT (significant) was more effective in decreasing pain and fatigue of the cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy than the usual care group, while the placebo group indicated a decreasing trend in pain and fatigue scores compared with the usual care group.

Keywords: cancer patients – chemotherapy – pain and fatigue – therapeutic touch

For reprints and all correspondence: Eesa Mohammadi, Department of Nursing, Medical Sciences Faculty, Tarbiat Modares University, Gisha Bridge, P.O. Box: 14115-331, Tehran, Iran. Tel: +98 21 82883550; Fax: +98 21 88006544; E-mail: mohamade{at}modares.ac.ir; emohamadus{at}yahoo.com

Received November 19, 2006; accepted September 12, 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.