A pilot study: the effect of healing touch on anxiety, stress, pain, pain medication usage, and physiological measures in hospitalized sickle cell disease adults experiencing a vaso-occlusive pain episode.

Purpose: This pilot study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of Healing Touch on anxiety, stress, pain, pain medication usage, and selected physiological measures of hospitalized adults with sickle cell disease experiencing a vaso-occlusive pain episode.

Design: Healing Touch sessions were administered for 30 minutes on four consecutive days, and the self-reported data on anxiety, stress, pain, and the selected physiological data were collected while controlling for music and presence.

Method: A parallel-group randomized control trial comparing the effects of Healing Touch with Music (HTM) to Attention Control with Music (ACM).

Racial and ethnic disparities in cancer pain management.

This study explored the ways in which racially and ethnically diverse patients differ in their perceptions of the cancer pain experience, barriers to treatment, and satisfaction with treatment. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at four cancer treatment centers and one cancer clinic in the southeastern United States and included 66 White, African-American, Latino, and American Indian cancer patients experiencing pain related to disease or disease progression. Pain Management Index (PMI) scores were calculated and subjects provided responses to the Cancer Pain Experience questionnaire, the Barriers Questionnaire, and a modified American Pain Society Satisfaction Survey.

Offering an online course: complementary and alternative therapies in nursing practice.

With 30% to 80% of adults in industrialized countries using complementary and alternative therapies, faculty at one university recognized a need for a complementary and alternative therapies course at the graduate level. The course includes concepts for master's students and doctoral students, presents a variety of topics, and allows students to interview a practitioner in a field they are particularly interested in.

Partner-delivered reflexology: effects on cancer pain and anxiety.

Purpose/objectives: To compare the effects of partner-delivered foot reflexology and usual care plus attention on patients' perceived pain and anxiety.

Design: The experimental pretest/post-test design included patient-partner dyads randomly assigned to an experimental or control group.

Setting: Four hospitals in the southeastern United States.

The effect of foot reflexology on pain in patients with metastatic cancer.

Thirty-six oncology inpatients participated in this third pilot study investigating the effects of foot reflexology in which equianalgesic dosing was calculated. Foot reflexology was found to have a positive immediate effect for patients with metastatic cancer who report pain, although there was no statistically significant effect at 3 hours after intervention or at 24 hours after intervention. Further study is suggested for foot reflexology delivered by family in the homes for management of cancer pain.

Using reflexology for pain management. A review.

More than two thirds of Americans with chronic pain are now using complementary and alternative therapies. One complementary and alternative therapy, reflexology, has a long history and has been found useful on a case-by-case basis. This article provides a review of the literature on the use of reflexology as a therapy in pain management.