Radiotherapy, Beacon Centre, Musgrove Park Hospital, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Taunton, United Kingdom; Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Information Experience Design & Fashion, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom.
J Med Imaging Radiat Sci. 2020 Dec;51(4S):S39-S43. doi: 10.1016/j.jmir.2020.09.003. Epub 2020 Sep 24.
Radiotherapy for cancer is an effective treatment but requires precise delivery. Patients are required to remain still in the same position during procedure which may be uncomfortable. This combined with high anxiety experienced by patients, and feelings of isolation, have indicated a need for comfort interventions. Care conveyed through empathetic touch promotes comfort, individual attention and presence and provides both psychological and physical comfort at the same time. Evidence in nursing and care literature showed that empathetic touch interventions have a significant role in promoting comfort, facilitating communication between care recipients and caregivers. However, the application of empathetic touch interventions may be challenging to administer due to the safety concern in the radiotherapy environment. The emergence of haptic technologies that enable the communication of touch remotely may have a potential to fill this gap. We take inspiration from both clinical empathetic touch in radiotherapy practice, as well as affective haptic technologies to envision the opportunities for haptic technologies as a complimentary comfort intervention to supplement human empathetic touch during radiotherapy.
癌症放射治疗是一种有效的治疗方法，但需要精确的输送。在治疗过程中，患者需要保持在同一位置不动，这可能会让他们感到不舒服。再加上患者通常会感到高度焦虑和孤立无援，这表明需要采取舒适干预措施。通过同理心触摸传递的关怀可以促进舒适感，给予患者个人关注和陪伴，同时提供心理和身体上的舒适感。护理和关爱文献中的证据表明，同理心触摸干预在促进舒适感方面发挥着重要作用，有助于护理对象和护理人员之间的沟通。然而，由于放射治疗环境中的安全问题，同理心触摸干预的实施可能具有挑战性。能够远程传递触摸的触觉技术的出现可能有潜力填补这一空白。我们从放射治疗实践中的临床同理心触摸以及情感触觉技术中汲取灵感，设想触觉技术作为一种补充性舒适干预措施的机会，以在放射治疗期间补充人类同理心触摸。
