Healing Touch and Cancer Pain and Stress

Trinh Diep

St. Cloud state University

Dr. Knopf

CEEP 675- Research Method

04/27/2016

Pain

“Pain is unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage”.

Chronic Pain/ Acute Pain Pain can affect different aspects of individuals’ lives:

Limited daily functioning Lower work productivity High stress Sleep deprive Other mental health concerns like depression or anxiety

(Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013, p. 41)

People with Cancer

Experience acute and chronic pain High stress Anxiety Symptoms related to cancer treatments:

Nausea/ vomiting Fatigue Skin Breakdown Mouth, gum, and throat problems Infection

Pain Treatments Pharmacological:

Narcotic medication Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) Anti-depression (Duloxetine (Cymbalta), Paroxetine (Paxil))

Non-Pharmacological: Guided images Deep breathing Heat/ Cold application Acupuncture/ Acupressure Bio-energy field therapy

Healing Touch A non-pharmacological intervention/ Bio-energy field

therapy According to Healing beyond Borders organization (2010),

HT is defined as:A relaxing, nurturing energy therapy that uses gentle touch to assist in balancing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. HT works with your energy field to support your natural ability to heal, is safe for all ages and works in harmony with standard or allopathic medical care.

Human Energy Field

Healing Touch Techniques

Magnetic Clearing Mind Clearing Pain Drain Hand in Motion Hand Still Chakra Connection Ultrasound Laser

Research Questions and Hypothesis

Will HT be an effective intervention in treating cancer pain and reducing stress level?

If HT is effective, how long will the effectiveness of HT continue to benefit patients?

The hypothesis of this study are HT will reduce people’s pain rating and stress level and the effects of healing touch will last at least two weeks after the therapy ends.

Literature Review

A lack of empirical evidences on healing touch treatment The effectiveness of healing touch varies Unknown mechanisms Unknown side effects of healing touch Unknown long-term effectiveness Optimal dosage has not been defined.

Operational Definition

Pain is subjective-concept. Self-report of pain is the most reliable assessment of pain.

Stress can be identified by physical or behavior signs and symptoms, such as increase heart rate, blood pressure, insomnia, agitation, or poor appetite.

This research study will include both male and female healing touch practitioners, have at least level three healing touch certification, and have been practicing healing touch for at least 3 months.

Participants Age 40-65 years old Have been diagnosed with cancer within the last three months Currently, undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy at

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Masonic Cancer Clinic in Minneapolis, and Coborn’s Cancer Center in Saint Cloud, Minnesota

Received chemotherapy or radiation therapy within the last two weeks

Have symptoms: pain, fatigue, nausea/ vomiting, stress

Participants

Exclusive criteria: Anyone who have chronic pain and stress

This study expects to recruit 50 participants for each group (Treatment and Control)

Measurement Tools

Visual Analog Scale Numeric Pain Rating Scale

Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory 43 life events Happy and Sad life events

Procedure This study will be an experimental study This research study will consist of two steps process. STEP 1:

In addition to routine care, participants in treatment group will receive HT intervention. Each HT session will be conducted for one hour each day, five days a week for three weeks at a relaxed environment.

In the control group, participants will only receive routine care. Participants in both HT group and control group will be asked to rate

their pain at the beginning and after three weeks (when the treatment ends).

ProcedureSTEP 1:

 

VAS NRS Holmes-Rahe

Pre-treatment

Post-Treatment

Pre-Treatment

Post-Treatment

Pre-Treatment

Post-Treatment

Treatment Group Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Control Group Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Procedure

STEP 2: Participants in the treatment group will be followed up at

the second week and at the forth week post-treatment. These participants will be asked to rate their pain and fatigue level during these follow up times.

  

Second week post-treatment Forth week post-treatment

VAS NRS Holmes-Rahe VAS NRS Holmes-

Rahe

Treatment Group Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Analysis

Researchers will consult with the Office of Research and Sponsored programs at St. Cloud State University for statistical analysis.

The data will be entered in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Window and the descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, mean, mode, or median can be analyzed. T-test and ANOVAs will also be analyzed.

Conclusion

Benefits: Individuals who are diagnosed with cancers or anyone

who is experiencing pain and high stress level. Health care system.

Better pain management and less side effects

Conclusion

Limitations: It is difficult to maintain the same relaxed environment. The presence of healing touch practitioners may have

some effects on participants’ pain and stress level. Participants may drop out of the study. Participants’ maturation will affect the result of this study.

Participants learn to be relaxed even without HT interventions.

Conclusion

Future Research: HT therapy has any side effects. Long-term used of HT therapy will cause any

changes in individuals’ energy field which may result in health problems.

Determine optimal dosage of HT

References FitzHenry, F., Wells, N., Slater, V., Dietrich, M. S., Wisawatapnimit, P., &Chakravarthy, A. B. (2014). A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study of the

impact of healing touch on fatigue in breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 13(2), pp. 105-113. DOI:

10.1177/1534735413503545

Ferraz, M. B., Quaresma, M. R., Aquino, L. R., Atra, E., Tugwell, P., & Goldsmith, C.H. (1990). Reliability of pain scales in the assessment of literate and

illiterate patients with rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol(17). Retrieved from http://www.physio-pedia.com/Numeric_Pain_Rating_Scale#cite_note-x8-3

Healing Beyond Borders Organization. (2010). Level 1 student workbook. Colorado, Lakewood: Healing Touch International, Inc.

Ignatavicius, D. D. & Workman, M. L. (2013). Care of patients with diabetes mellitus. In Medical-Surgical Nursing: Patient-Centered Collaborative

Care. Missouri, St. Louis: Elsevier.

Institute of Medicine Report from the Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. (2011). Relieving pain in America, a blueprint for

transforming prevention, care, education and research. The National Academies Press.

MacIntyre, B., Hamilton, J., Fricke, T., Ma, Wejun., Mehle, S., & Michel, M. (2008). The efficacy of healing touch in coronary artery bypass surgery

recovery: A randomized clinical trial. Alternative therapies, 14(4), pp. 24-32. Retrieved from

http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=53218014-5f0a-4171-adbd-

13762e642339%40sessionmgr105&hid=114

References (Cont.)

Pagare, V. (2016). Numeric Pain Rating Scale. Retrieved from

http://www.physio-pedia.com/Numeric_Pain_Rating_Scale

St. Cloud State University- Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. (2016). IRB consent process: Informed consent

checklist. Retrieved from http://www.stcloudstate.edu/irb/consent/checklist.asp

St. Cloud State University- Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. (2016). IRB process. Retrieved from

http://www.stcloudstate.edu/irb/process/default.asp

Strohmetz, D. B. (2010). Activity: Identifying potential threats to interval validity using Mrs Smith. Psychology

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Wardell, D. W., Rintala, D., & Tan, G. (2008). Study descriptions of healing touch with veterans experiencing chronic

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