Goodfellow Linda M
Duquesne University School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15282, USA.
Nurs Res. 2003 Sep-Oct;52(5):318-28. doi: 10.1097/00006199-200309000-00006.
Spouses of patients with cancer are at risk for stress-related disorders and may experience a reduction in immune function. Therapeutic back massage (TBM) has been shown to enhance relaxation and thus, may reduce stress associated with caring for an ill partner.
To determine if TBM's influences on psychosocial, physiologic, and immune function variables in spouses of patients with cancer, and explore the relationships between psychosocial variables and immune function in spouses of patients with cancer.
This group experimental design measured the effects of a 20-minute TBM at three time points (preintervention, immediately postintervention, 20 minutes postintervention) on spouses of patients with cancer (N= 42) randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The major dependent variables including natural killer cell activity (NKCA), heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mood, and perceived stress were measured at the three time points to examine the effects of TBM. Data collected on measures of mood and perceived stress were correlated with NKCA to examine their relationships. Prior to hypotheses testing, data collected on measures of depressive mood, loneliness, marital disruption, and health practices were also correlated with NKCA to ascertain any possible confounding variables.
Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance tests determined the effects of TBM over the two postintervention time points and resulted in significant group x time interactions on mood (F [2, 40]= 14.61, p=.0005) and perceived stress (F [2, 40]= 28.66, p=.001). Significant inverse relationships were found between mood and NKCA (r= -.41, p=.009, N= 42) and perceived stress and NKCA (r= -.37, p=.017, N= 42).
Findings suggest that TBM may enhance mood and reduce perceived stress in this population. Insight was gained into the psycho-immunologic relationships studied.
癌症患者的配偶有患应激相关疾病的风险，且免疫功能可能会下降。治疗性背部按摩（TBM）已被证明能增强放松感，因此可能减轻照顾患病伴侣带来的压力。
确定TBM对癌症患者配偶的心理社会、生理和免疫功能变量的影响，并探讨癌症患者配偶心理社会变量与免疫功能之间的关系。
本组实验设计在三个时间点（干预前、干预后即刻、干预后20分钟）测量了20分钟TBM对随机分配到实验组或对照组的癌症患者配偶（N = 42）的影响。在这三个时间点测量主要因变量，包括自然杀伤细胞活性（NKCA）、心率、收缩压和舒张压、情绪以及感知压力，以检验TBM的效果。收集的情绪和感知压力测量数据与NKCA相关，以检验它们之间的关系。在进行假设检验之前，还将收集的抑郁情绪、孤独感、婚姻破裂和健康行为测量数据与NKCA相关，以确定任何可能的混杂变量。
双向重复测量方差分析检验确定了TBM在两个干预后时间点的影响，并导致情绪（F [2, 40] = 14.61，p =.0005）和感知压力（F [2, 40] = 28.66，p =.001）上存在显著的组×时间交互作用。情绪与NKCA（r = -.41，p =.009，N = 42）以及感知压力与NKCA（r = -.37，p =.017，N = 42）之间存在显著的负相关。
研究结果表明，TBM可能改善该人群的情绪并减轻感知压力。对所研究的心理 - 免疫关系有了深入了解。
