Paper
Friday, July 23, 2004
The Effect of Foot Reflexology on Pain in Patients with Metastatic Cancer
Nancy L. Stephenson, RN, PhD, CS, School of Nursing, School of Nursing, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA
| Learning Objective #1: Discuss how an alternative and complementary therapy, foot reflexology, can be integrated into cancer care |
| Learning Objective #2: Explain how foot reflexology reduced pain in a group of cancer patients with metastasis |
Purpose: * The purpose of this third pilot study was to determine the effects of foot reflexology on pain description and pain duration in patients with metastatic cancer. Complementary therapies are chosen with limited information about their efficacy, since many patients living with advanced cancer experience pain, despite taking multiple analgesics. The aims of the study were to compare control and intervention patients pre/post foot reflexology, 3 hours post foot reflexology and 24 hours post foot reflexology and to compare the change in pain intensity for the first and second treatments. Methods: A stratified random sample of 36 inpatients in a regional hospital in the southeastern United States was accrued. In the experimental repeated measures design, pain was measured with the Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (Melzack, 1987), substituting the 0-10 scale required by Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals for the Present Pain Intensity. The intervention subjects received foot reflexology, a technique using the thumb and forefinger of the intervener to apply pressure to the patient’s feet dictated by the International Institute of Reflexology, two times 24 hours apart. Equianalgesic dosing was calculated. Findings: Gender and cancer type variations in pain were analyzed from word descriptors of the SF-MPQ. A mixed models analysis of repeated measures was used to compare the pain scores between the intervention and control patients from baseline to 24 hours. Among intervention patients, exploratory analyses were used to identify factors that were associated with response to treatment. Discussion: The clinical study was important to inform health care providers and patients about pain description, effects, dosing and efficacy of foot reflexology as a complementary therapy for pain management in patients with metastatic cancer. *Funded by NR07091
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Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004