Associations between psychological symptoms and treatment outcomes of a massage therapy intervention: Secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to determine whether depression or baseline psychological symptom frequency moderated the outcomes of massage therapy (MT) compared to simple touch in advanced cancer patients.
Results Summary
The study found significant main effects of depression and baseline psychological symptom frequency on changes in pain, heart and respiratory rates, quality of life, and physical distress, but no differential responses between MT and simple touch groups. Results suggest psychological interventions could enhance outcomes for cancer patients receiving any touch therapy.
Population
380 adults with advanced cancer.
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Massage therapy | increase | outcomes | certain subgroups of advanced cancer patients | - | may be more effective | #1 |
Massage therapy | neutral | changes in pain | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #2 |
Massage therapy | neutral | 60-second heart and respiratory rates | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #3 |
Massage therapy | neutral | quality of life | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #4 |
Massage therapy | neutral | physical distress | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #5 |
simple touch | neutral | changes in pain | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #6 |
simple touch | neutral | 60-second heart and respiratory rates | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #7 |
simple touch | neutral | quality of life | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #8 |
simple touch | neutral | physical distress | adults with advanced cancer | - | significant main effects | #9 |
Massage therapy | no change | outcomes | adults with advanced cancer | - | did not find differential responses | #10 |
simple touch | no change | outcomes | adults with advanced cancer | - | did not find differential responses | #11 |
psychological interventions | increase | outcomes | patients with cancer who are receiving any type of touch therapy | - | could be targeted to improve outcomes | #12 |
Massage therapy (MT) may be more effective for certain subgroups of advanced cancer patients, but this is not well-studied. Psychological symptoms are one potential moderator of MT outcomes, as they occur frequently in MT patients. Therefore, we conducted a secondary analysis of data from a multi-site study which compared MT to simple touch in 380 adults with advanced cancer. We examined whether the presence of depression or baseline psychological symptom frequency moderated outcomes of change in pain, interference of pain, quality of life, 60-second heart and respiratory rates, and physical distress. We found significant main effects of depression and baseline psychological symptom frequency on changes in pain, 60-second heart and respiratory rates, quality of life, and physical distress for both MT and simple touch, but did not find differential responses between groups in moderator analyses. Results imply that psychological interventions could be targeted to patients with cancer who are receiving any type of touch therapy to improve outcomes.