McPhail P, Sandhu H, Dale J, Stewart-Brown S
Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2018 Mar;27(2):e12802. doi: 10.1111/ecc.12802. Epub 2018 Jan 11.
Whilst acupuncture has the potential to impact on many aspects of health and well-being, including end-of-life care, there is little research regarding patients' experiences of its effects within the context of palliative care in hospice settings. The aim of this study was to address this gap, by exploring patients' experiences of acupuncture within this setting. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of eighteen patients who had received acupuncture as part of hospice care. Transcription of data, with thematic analysis, identified two overarching themes: (1) participant perceptions of the effects of acupuncture including pain control, improved physical and emotional health, spiritual well-being and awareness of health as a holistic phenomenon; and (2) factors which participants believed enabled acupuncture to have these effects including the quality of the practitioner relationship, engagement of participants in the process of their treatment and prior expectations that acupuncture could work. Acupuncture was found to be a highly acceptable, accessible and popular treatment with positive holistic effects reported across the domains of physical, mental and spiritual health and no serious adverse effects. By enabling awareness of the holistic nature of health and well-being, acupuncture was experienced as having the potential to contribute to a better death, an emergent theory that needs testing in further studies. In the meanwhile, the results of this study offer encouragement to hospices currently providing or considering investing in acupuncture provision.
虽然针灸有可能影响健康和幸福的许多方面，包括临终关怀，但在临终关怀机构的姑息治疗背景下，关于患者对其效果体验的研究很少。本研究的目的是通过探索患者在这种环境下对针灸的体验来填补这一空白。对18名接受过针灸治疗作为临终关怀一部分的患者进行了深入的半结构化访谈。通过对数据进行转录并进行主题分析，确定了两个总体主题：（1）参与者对针灸效果的认知，包括疼痛控制、改善身体和情绪健康、精神幸福以及对健康作为一个整体现象的认识；（2）参与者认为使针灸能够产生这些效果的因素，包括从业者关系的质量、参与者在治疗过程中的参与度以及对针灸可能有效的先前期望。研究发现，针灸是一种高度可接受、可及且受欢迎的治疗方法，在身体、心理和精神健康领域均报告了积极的整体效果，且无严重不良反应。通过使人们认识到健康和幸福的整体性，针灸被认为有可能促成更好的死亡，这是一个需要在进一步研究中进行验证的新兴理论。同时，本研究结果为目前正在提供或考虑投资针灸服务的临终关怀机构提供了鼓励。
