Ben-Arye Eran, Gressel Orit, Keshet Yael, Zaritsky Vika, Kassem Sameer, Segev Yakir, Samuels Noah
Integrative Oncology Program, The Oncology Service; Lin, Carmel, and Zebulun Medical Centers, Clalit Health Services, Haifa, Israel.
Ruth and Bruch Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Psychooncology. 2025 May;34(5):e70172. doi: 10.1002/pon.70172.
The current war in Israel has affected quality of life (QoL)-related concerns among patients with cancer. Integrative oncology (IO) provides complementary medicine within supportive and palliative care. The study examined an IO program in northern Israel for cancer and war-related concerns.
This qualitative study, nested within a prospective randomized controlled trial, examined patients undergoing oncology and palliative care expressing cancer and war-related QoL concerns referred by oncology healthcare providers to an IO program. Patients were randomized to manual-relaxation with (Group A) or without (Group B) acupuncture. Narratives were recorded in MYCaW (Measure Yourself Concerns and Well-being) questionnaires immediately and after 24 h. Narrative excerpts were qualitatively analyzed using ATLAS.Ti software for systematic coding.
Patient narratives (Group A, 67; Group B, 58) focused primarily on themes which included a sense of calmness and reduced emotional distress (e.g., stress, anxiety, worries, nervousness), more prominently in Group B (manual-relaxation only; 55/56 immediately/after 24 h); and reduced pain severity, more so in Group A (with acupuncture; 19/24). Most excerpts described improved QoL in both groups (142/147, 97%) immediately after IO treatments, less so at 24 h (103/135).
Narratives of patients facing cancer- and war-related QoL challenges due to the ongoing war in Israel describe a beneficial impact of IO treatments, both immediately and after 24 h. Manual-relaxation without acupuncture was more likely to improve emotional concerns, with pain relief more apparent with the addition of acupuncture. Further qualitative and quantitative research is needed to explore these findings.
以色列当前的战争影响了癌症患者与生活质量（QoL）相关的问题。综合肿瘤学（IO）在支持性和姑息性护理中提供补充医学。本研究调查了以色列北部一个针对癌症及与战争相关问题的IO项目。
本定性研究嵌套于一项前瞻性随机对照试验中，研究对象为接受肿瘤学和姑息性护理的患者，这些患者表达了与癌症和战争相关的生活质量问题，由肿瘤医疗服务提供者转介至一个IO项目。患者被随机分为接受（A组）或不接受（B组）针灸的手法放松组。在MYCaW（自我评估问题与幸福感）问卷中，分别在即时和24小时后记录患者的叙述。使用ATLAS.Ti软件对叙述摘录进行定性分析，以进行系统编码。
患者叙述（A组67例；B组58例）主要集中在以下主题上，包括平静感和情绪困扰减轻（如压力、焦虑、担忧、紧张），在B组（仅手法放松组）更为明显（即时/24小时后分别为55/56例）；疼痛严重程度减轻，在A组（接受针灸组）更为显著（19/24例）。大多数摘录描述了两组在IO治疗后即时生活质量均有所改善（142/147，97%），在24小时时改善程度较小（103/135）。
由于以色列持续的战争而面临与癌症和战争相关生活质量挑战的患者叙述表明，IO治疗在即时和24小时后均产生了有益影响。不进行针灸的手法放松更有可能改善情绪问题，而添加针灸后疼痛缓解更明显。需要进一步的定性和定量研究来探索这些发现。
