Physiotherapy March 2000/vol 86/no 3

162

Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh 2000 (ISBN 0 443 05791 5). Illus. 255 pages

by Tiffany Field £17.95Tiffany Field is the Director of the Touch Research Institutes,University of Miami School of Medicine and Nova SoutheasternUniversity, Florida. She has written a book which reviews theresearch on touch therapy conducted at the Touch ResearchInstitutes. Touch therapy in this context translates as massagewhich, in almost all the studies, involved deep tissuemanipulation.

The chapters cover the different areas of research, namely:� Enhancing growth� Pain reduction during painful procedures and chronic pain

syndromes� Enhancing attentiveness� Alleviating depression and anxiety� Autoimmune disorders� Immune disorders

Contained within the chapters there are the reports of 29randomised controlled clinical trials, many of which have beenpublished previously in peer reviewed journals. Each chapter is

extensively referenced with up-to-date studies. There is athorough description of the methodologies used, well presentedresults and interesting discussions which contain criticism andrecommendations. An impressive variety of measures was used inthe majority of the studies which usually included biochemicaland behavioural factors and measures of mood whereappropriate. For example, a study which indicated that massagetherapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern of alertnessand maths computation performance was assessed using theProfile of Mood States, the State Anxiety Index, salivary cortisolsampling, math computation testing, EEG procedure and Lifeand Job Stress questionnaires.

The book will be of particular interest to educators who teach massage, and to undergraduate physiotherapy students;consequently it should be available in academic libraries.

The real appeal of this book is that the collected results of thestudies provide a massive pool of data to demonstrate thatmassage therapy is now firmly established as an evidence-basedtreatment. Massage has been shown to reduce pain, reduce stresshormones, alleviate depressive symptoms, improve pulmonaryfunction and positively alter the immune system. These resultswill ensure a wide readership for this book.

Eileen Cook MCSP

Touch Therapy

Churchill Livingstone, London1997 (ISBN 0 443 057397).186 pages

by Ros Carnwell for The Open Learning Foundation £21.95This book has been very carefully researched, prepared andwritten. It succeeds on several levels, but it does have somedrawbacks. It was written as part of the Open LearningFoundation’s remit to develop new teaching and learningmaterial. This book would make a good core text for a moduleof evaluative research methodology, especially if the convenorswere able to use and adapt examples for the particular studentcohort. The author clearly intends that the book is used as aworkbook for readers to work through. Therefore to dip into itwithout having proceeded sequentially through the material mayprove to be unsatisfactory, whereas for some to go through all thestages may be unnecessary.

Readers are given a clear indication of the material to becovered in each section. The constructs are clearly defined andexamples are set out to illustrate those definitions or factswhich are seen as fundamental. It has to be noted that theoverwhelming majority are nursing examples and so the fullimpact of some (but by no means all) could be diminishedamong a non-nursing readership. The style of the book movesreaders along through each section during which time theexamples build into a fuller picture.

Throughout the book there are activities to be completedwhich will enhance readers’ understanding. It is at this point thatthe book has its greatest strength. In order to ensure that readers

understand, they have to interact with the material. This is theessence of learning. However it is also clear that this book needsto be used with guidance for novices. The activities demand thatreaders develop insight but there appears to be no means withinthe book that this can be verified. Therefore readers will need todiscuss their understanding with another – presumably a tutor or more experienced colleague. This is obviously an essentialcomponent of such a learning process and is the strength of thebook. However, it would make it less satisfactory if a reader didnot have a tutor or colleague to help and aspired to use the bookas a standard text for information rather than a workbook. Oncecompleted it could fulfil that role, but in the first instance wouldhave to be considered as a learning aid.

The text is supported within the book by a resource section ofkey articles (though more contemporary papers may be neededin the future) which provide examples of process which is key tothis type of research. It is easy on the eye which makes itattractive to read and which will encourage readers to 'stay withit' when they find it hard going.

I think that this book should be considered by those whoprovide research education, as a resource which they mightrecommend to their students with the proviso that tutors wouldbe able to provide the support required for the activities thereaders would need to attempt to gain maximum benefit. For itto be of substantial use within physiotherapy I think that theexamples would need to be adapted to make them more relevantand readily accessible. I suspect that this book is of more value inthe nursing context (for which it was obviously written) than inphysiotherapy. However, to dismiss this book lightly would be amistake, though care should be taken that it is used in themanner for which it was designed.

Simon Mockett MSc MCSP

Evaluative Research Methodologyin Nursing and Healthcare