scholarly journals Non-drug Stress Management for Patients with Cancer: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-217
Author(s):  
Tipsuda Sumneangsanor ◽  
Manyat Ruchiwit ◽  
Linda Weglicki

Background: Patients with cancer suffer from the physical impacts of the disease, including pain in organs where cancer has spread to and treatment side effects. Many factors affect the mental state of cancer patients, especially stress which can cause muscle tension around the affected area and create a higher degree of pain. Stress impacts physical conditions and results in a worse quality of life. Thus, an appropriate approach to cope with, evaluate, and manage stress in cancer patients is considered crucial. Objective: The purpose of this systematic review was to determine and evaluate non-drug stress management guidelines for cancer patients. Methods: A systematic review was undertaken to synthesize knowledge concerning stress and non-drug stress management for cancer patients. Information was sourced from documents and articles published by related institutions in relevant electronic databases, including PubMed, PsycINFO, Dynamed, and ScienceDirect between 2013 and 2019. No limitations were imposed regarding the type of study design previously used. Conference abstracts were not accepted. The quality of all included studies was independently appraised by two review writers. Results: The search generated 129 studies, of which only 20 met the inclusion criteria. The 20 studies cover 11 studies of music for cancer prevention and 6 studies of mindfulness-based stress reduction in cancer patients. The studies utilized both quantitative and qualitative approaches, while three studies of biofeedback in cancer patients only collected quantitative data. For the outcome from the reviews, 6 studies found that music therapy, biofeedback, and mindfulness greatly impact physical alterations such as insomnia, nausea or vomiting, and pain. Furthermore, 17 studies found that non-drug management techniques had a positive impact on psychological adjustments such as stress and anxiety reduction and relaxation promotion. Non-drug stress management such as music, biofeedback, and mindfulness was found to reduce stress among patients. Conclusion: This review confirms that non-drug stress management approaches can reduce suffering, lead to a better quality of life, reduce mortality rates, minimize treatment costs, and prevent and mitigate unwanted symptoms in cancer patients. This approach can be adapted and applied to patients with other diseases in the future. However, because several of the reviewed studies did not have a follow-up period, the present study was unable to collect evidence suggesting how long the observed benefits will remain.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Justina Kievisiene ◽  
Rasa Jautakyte ◽  
Alona Rauckiene-Michaelsson ◽  
Natalja Fatkulina ◽  
Cesar Agostinis-Sobrinho

Objective. To systematically review the evidence available on the effects of art therapy and music therapy interventions in patients with breast cancer. Design. Systematic search was conducted in PubMed, EBSCO, and Cochrane Central databases. Articles were scanned using the following keywords: “art therapy” or “music therapy” and “breast cancer” or “breast neoplasms,” “breast carcinoma,” “breast tumor,” and “mammary cancer.” Only RCTs published in English, with a control group and experimental group, and presenting pre-/post-therapy results were included. PRISMA guidelines for this systematic review were followed. Results. Twenty randomized controlled trials matched the eligibility criteria. Nine studies evaluated the effect of art therapy, and eleven evaluated the effect of music therapy. Improvements were measured in stress, anxiety, depression reduction, pain, fatigue, or other cancer-related somatic symptoms’ management. Overall, the results show that art therapy was oriented towards the effects on quality of life and emotional symptoms while music therapy is the most often applied for anxiety reduction purposes during or before surgeries or chemotherapy sessions. Conclusion. Art and music therapies show effective opportunities for breast cancer patients to reduce negative emotional state and improve the quality of life and seem to be promising nonmedicated treatment options in breast oncology. However, more detailed and highly descriptive single therapy and primary mental health outcome measuring RCTs are necessary to draw an evidence-based advise for the use of art and music therapies.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Loef ◽  
Harald Walach

AbstractBackgroundMistletoe extracts are used as an adjunct therapy for cancer patients, but there is dissent as to whether this therapy has a positive impact on quality of life (QoL).MethodsWe conducted a systematic review searching in several databases (Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Science Citation Index, clinicaltrials.gov, opengrey.org) by combining terms that cover the fields of “neoplasm”, “quality of life” and “mistletoe”. We included prospective controlled trials that compared mistletoe extracts with a control in cancer patients and reported QoL or related dimensions. The quality of the studies was assessed with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool version 2.We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis.ResultsWe included 26 publications with 30 data sets. The studies were heterogeneous. The pooled standardized mean difference (random effects model) for global QoL after treatment with mistletoe extracts vs. control was d = 0.61 (95% CI 0.41-0.81; p<0,00001). The effect was stronger for younger patients, with longer treatment, in studies with lower risk of bias, in randomized and blinded studies. Sensitivity analyses support the validity of the finding. 50% of the QoL subdomains (e.g. pain, nausea) show a significant improvement after mistletoe treatment. Most studies have a high risk of bias or at least raise some concern.ConclusionMistletoe extracts produce a significant, medium-sized effect on QoL in cancer. Risk of bias in the analyzed studies is likely due to the specific type of treatment, which is difficult to blind; yet this risk is unlikely to affect the outcome.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019137704


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e24033-e24033
Author(s):  
Nathalie Dauphin McKenzie ◽  
Nnamdi Ifekandu Gwacham ◽  
Julie W. Pepe ◽  
Sarfraz Ahmad ◽  
James Erasmus Kendrick ◽  
...  

e24033 Background: General health related factors such as obesity, unhealthy diets disproportionate with sugary and highly processed foods, inactivity, and smoking have repeatedly been shown to negatively impact survival and quality of life outcomes in cancer survivors. The Healthy Eating Active Lifestyle (HEAL) – GYN “rehabilitation” cancer program was developed to provide intensive group lifestyle training on exercise, nutrition, sleep, social integration, and stress management via a telemedicine platform. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of such an intervention and its tolerability, in addition to its impact on short-term quality of life for gynecologic cancer patients. Methods: HEAL – GYN consists of 8 weekly group sessions offering experiential instruction and personalized goal setting for patients with diagnosis of gynecologic cancer. Components are drawn from the tenets of lifestyle medicine. An oncologist certified in lifestyle medicine along with a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team addressed diet, physical activity, strategies for sleep and stress management, smoking cessation, and alcohol intake. The intervention included training to address unmet psychologic, emotional, physical, sexual, social, and spiritual needs common to cancer survivors. American College of Lifestyle Medicine questionnaires were administered, utilizing Likert scales (1-5) in a pre- and post- fashion to assess improvements in physical activity levels, dietary habits, sleep hygiene, and quality of life. Medical records were reviewed including anthropometric data. Results: 26 patients have enrolled thus far, and we report outcomes on the first 20 participants. The mean age was 58.8 years; 22 were Caucasian, and 7 were on maintenance therapies for gynecologic cancers. Average total severity of reported symptoms (scale = 100 points) on a general medical symptom questionnaire (MSQ) decreased by 22% (61 vs 48). Eight patients reported increased perceived levels of health and 6 had stable perception of health. There were also notable improvements from baseline in item assessments of eating behavior (34%), perceived stress (20%), and resilience (21%). Patients also reported a notable trend towards improvement in anxiety (35%) and depression (34%), as well as social integration and connectedness (30%). 100% of participants would “highly recommend the program” and none complained of stress or altered mood associated with online instruction. Conclusions: The telemedicine HEAL – GYN peri-habilitation program is feasible and well tolerated. In addition, the program may improve quality of life and may prevent further decline for those on treatment or maintenance therapy. These preliminary findings support continued investigation of a telemedicine healthy lifestyle peri-habilitative program.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Liu ◽  
Yifeng Ren ◽  
Yuting Wang ◽  
Yu Yang ◽  
Chuan Zheng ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundUpper gastrointestinal syndrome including nausea, vomiting, and anorexia is a common side effect of chemotherapy, which are associated with treatment interruptions, reduced food intake, decreased functionality and a worse quality of life. Rikkunshito is a traditional herbal medicine that has gained increasing attention in recent years for its effect on relieving gastrointestinal disorders in various digestive diseases, while its efficacy for upper gastrointestinal syndrome induced by chemotherapy remains uncertain. MethodsDatabases including PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Chinese databases, and Japanese database will be systematically searched from their inception onwards. Randomized controlled trials will be assessed. The primary outcome parameters are the complete control (CC) rate, complete response (CR) rate, and complete protection (CP) rate in the overall phase (0–120 hours). The secondary outcomes include: (I) the CC rate, CR rate and CP rate during the acute phase (0–24 hours) and delayed phase (24–120 hours); (II) the score and frequency of vomiting, nausea, and anorexia occurring; (III) the daily dietary intake and body weight; (IV) plasma ghrelin level; (V) quality of life; (VI) incidence of adverse events. The overall quality of the data will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation guidelines. Risk of bias will be evaluated by the Cochrane tool. Reporting bias will be estimated using Begg and Egger tests. Heterogeneity will be evaluated by the I2 statistic and Q test. If I2 > 50%, sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis of different items will be performed. DiscussionFrom the study, we will ascertain the efficacy and safety of rikkunshito in chemotherapy-induced upper gastrointestinal syndrome. This review may provide evidence for rikkunshito as an adjuvant to treat upper gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with cancer. Systematic review registrationCRD42020214299 in PROSPERO.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 1997-2010
Author(s):  
Sharon Odeo ◽  
Amsalu Degu

Introduction Prostate cancer is recognized as the leading cause of malignancy-related incidence and mortality in the male population. The treatment regimens have long-term effects detrimental to the patient's quality of life. Hence, this review was aimed to determine the overall HRQOL and its associated among prostate cancer patients. Methods The review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The databases searched were PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar and Cumulative Index to the Nursing and Allied Literature (CINAHL), which provided articles that were critically examined, yielding 52 studies that met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Results Out of 52 studies, 30 studies reported poor overall HRQOL in various domains after prostate cancer treatment. Contrastingly, 15 studies reported good overall quality of life after treatment. Among the various domains, sexual function was the most grossly affected functional score by the treatment modalities of prostate cancer. Nonetheless, seven studies showed that the absence of a significant change in the overall quality of life after treatment. According to the studies, older age, comorbidities, higher clinical stage, higher Gleason score, greater cancer severity, African American race, impaired mental health, neoadjuvant hormonal therapy and lower level of education were the major poor predictors of HRQOL among prostate cancer patients. Conclusion The overall HRQOL in prostate cancer patients was generally poor in various functional domains after treatment. Among the various domains, sexual function was the most grossly affected functional score by the treatment modalities of prostate cancer.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asma Channa ◽  
Nirvana Popescu ◽  
Vlad Ciobanu

Prevalence of neurocognitive diseases in adult patients demands the use of wearable devices to transform the future of mental health. Recent development in wearable technology proclaimed its use in diagnosis, rehabilitation, assessment, and monitoring. This systematic review presents the state of the art of wearables used by Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients or the patients who are going through a neurocognitive disorder. This article is based on PRISMA guidelines, and the literature is searched between January 2009 to January 2020 analyzing four databases: PubMed, IEEE Xplorer, Elsevier, and ISI Web of Science. For further validity of articles, a new PEDro-inspired technique is implemented. In PEDro, five statistical indicators were set to classify relevant articles and later the citations were also considered to make strong assessment of relevant articles. This led to 46 articles that met inclusion criteria. Based on them, this systematic review examines different types of wearable devices, essential in improving early diagnose and monitoring, emphasizing their role in improving the quality of life, differentiating the various fitness and gait wearable-based exercises and their impact on the regression of disease and on the motor diagnosis tests and finally addressing the available wearable insoles and their role in rehabilitation. The research findings proved that sensor based wearable devices, and specially instrumented insoles, help not only in monitoring and diagnosis but also in tracking numerous exercises and their positive impact towards the improvement of quality of life among different Parkinson and neurocognitive patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 175 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin H. Marks ◽  
Jean-Phillip Okhovat ◽  
Dina Hagigeorges ◽  
Athena J. Manatis-Lornell ◽  
Steven J. Isakoff ◽  
...  

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