Duke University Medical Center, The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, DUMC Box 3624, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Support Care Cancer. 2011 May;19(5):711-5. doi: 10.1007/s00520-010-1032-5. Epub 2010 Nov 3.
Patients with brain tumors report experiencing elevated levels of stress across the disease continuum. Massage therapy is a commonly used complementary therapy and is employed in cancer care to reduce psychological stress and to improve quality of life (QoL). The purpose of this pilot study was to obtain a preliminary assessment of the efficacy of massage therapy on patient reported psychological outcomes and QoL.
The design of the study was a prospective, single-arm intervention. Participants were newly diagnosed primary brain tumor patients who reported experiencing stress and who received a total of eight massages over a period of 4 weeks. Participants completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain to assess their stress level and QoL.
As a group, levels of stress dropped significantly between weeks 2 and 3 (M = 12.3, SD = 3.09, P ≤ 0.010). A trend for the reduction in stress continued through week 4 (P ≤ 0.063). At the end of week 4, PSS-10 scores of all participants were below the threshold for being considered stressed. By the end of the intervention, participants reported significant improvements in three test domains, emotional well-being, additional brain tumor concerns, and social/family well-being.
This study indicates that participation in a massage therapy program is both feasible and acceptable to newly diagnosed brain tumor patients experiencing stress. Furthermore, participants in this study reported improvements in stress and their QoL while receiving massage therapy.
脑瘤患者在疾病进展过程中报告经历了高水平的压力。按摩疗法是一种常用的补充疗法，用于癌症护理以减轻心理压力并提高生活质量（QoL）。本初步研究的目的是初步评估按摩疗法对患者报告的心理结果和 QoL 的疗效。
研究设计为前瞻性、单臂干预。参与者为新诊断的原发性脑肿瘤患者，他们报告经历了压力，并在 4 周内接受了总共 8 次按摩。参与者完成了感知压力量表（PSS-10）和癌症治疗脑功能评估-脑，以评估他们的压力水平和 QoL。
作为一个整体，压力水平在第 2 周到第 3 周之间显着下降（M = 12.3，SD = 3.09，P ≤ 0.010）。压力减轻的趋势一直持续到第 4 周（P ≤ 0.063）。在第 4 周结束时，所有参与者的 PSS-10 评分均低于被认为有压力的阈值。在干预结束时，参与者报告在三个测试领域（情绪健康、额外的脑瘤担忧以及社会/家庭健康）方面有显著改善。
这项研究表明，参加按摩疗法计划对于经历压力的新诊断脑肿瘤患者既可行又可接受。此外，本研究中的参与者在接受按摩治疗时报告了压力和 QoL 的改善。
