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Acupuncture care for breast cancer patients during chemotherapy: A feasibility study

Acupuncture care for breast cancer patients during chemotherapy: A feasibility study
Acupuncture care for breast cancer patients during chemotherapy: A feasibility study
Acupuncture care delivered pragmatically as an adjunct to conventional care may lead to improvements in quality of life and alleviation of conventional treatment-related side effects among breast cancer patients. Patient perceptions and expectations of treatment and the therapeutic relationship inherent to acupuncture care could modify treatment effects. The aim of this study was to design a rigorous feasibility study in preparation for trial to evaluate the effects of acupuncture care (a whole system) on the fatigue experienced by patients undergoing conventional treatment of their breast cancer. Phase I included the development of a treatment protocol for a short course of acupuncture care for patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Defining best practice in this context will ensure that the intervention tested will have meaning and validity for all professional acupuncturists. Phase 2 will be a randomized feasibility pilot study using the acupuncture treatment protocol for 40 patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. The study will use a mixed-methods approach involving both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Outcome assessment will include validated measures for fatigue, quality of life, and depression. The proposed study will tell us what effects of acupuncture care are important to the patient and address acupuncture as it is practiced in the real world. Results from this study will enable a definitive randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture care for fatigue in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
fatigue, acupuncture, design, feasibility studies, osteoarthritis, treatment, trial, perception, headache, cancer, patients, complementary, improvement
1534-7354
308-314
Price, Sarah
2ea99567-1d8e-4d8c-8699-c809d1736831
Lewith, George
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Thomas, Kate
9e400651-72dd-4a2e-999f-a78df831d337
Price, Sarah
2ea99567-1d8e-4d8c-8699-c809d1736831
Lewith, George
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Thomas, Kate
9e400651-72dd-4a2e-999f-a78df831d337

Price, Sarah, Lewith, George and Thomas, Kate (2006) Acupuncture care for breast cancer patients during chemotherapy: A feasibility study. Integrative cancer therapies, 5 (4), 308-314. (doi:10.1177/1534735406294899).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Acupuncture care delivered pragmatically as an adjunct to conventional care may lead to improvements in quality of life and alleviation of conventional treatment-related side effects among breast cancer patients. Patient perceptions and expectations of treatment and the therapeutic relationship inherent to acupuncture care could modify treatment effects. The aim of this study was to design a rigorous feasibility study in preparation for trial to evaluate the effects of acupuncture care (a whole system) on the fatigue experienced by patients undergoing conventional treatment of their breast cancer. Phase I included the development of a treatment protocol for a short course of acupuncture care for patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Defining best practice in this context will ensure that the intervention tested will have meaning and validity for all professional acupuncturists. Phase 2 will be a randomized feasibility pilot study using the acupuncture treatment protocol for 40 patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. The study will use a mixed-methods approach involving both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Outcome assessment will include validated measures for fatigue, quality of life, and depression. The proposed study will tell us what effects of acupuncture care are important to the patient and address acupuncture as it is practiced in the real world. Results from this study will enable a definitive randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture care for fatigue in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

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More information

Published date: May 2006
Keywords: fatigue, acupuncture, design, feasibility studies, osteoarthritis, treatment, trial, perception, headache, cancer, patients, complementary, improvement

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 62070
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/62070
ISSN: 1534-7354
PURE UUID: 6ecc6a5d-1159-4ee2-ab2e-64979587a2c1

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Date deposited: 10 Sep 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 11:29

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Contributors

Author: Sarah Price
Author: George Lewith
Author: Kate Thomas

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