The Effectiveness of Complementary Therapy as Mind-Body Practice on Quality of Life among Cancer Survivors: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate quality of life (QOL) improvement in long-term cancer survivors using complementary therapy (CT) as mind-body practice. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study including intervention and control groups was conducted. Participants in the intervention group engaged in CTs, including music therapy, progressive muscle relaxation, and deep-breathing exercises for 8 weeks at home. QOL was evaluated in both the groups using Short Form-8 (SF-8) questionnaire before the experiment and at 4 and 8 weeks after starting the experiment. To examine QOL, we compared SF-8 subscale scores, the physical and mental component summaries of QOL. RESULTS: Cancer survivors were assigned to the intervention and control groups, comprising 69 and 59 individuals. There were no significant differences in QOL between the two groups with low scores, but there was a significant difference in the mental aspect of QOL in 4 weeks, indicating that the intervention group was lower than the control group. Meanwhile, the intervention group tended to experience increased changes in the mental aspect of QOL in 8 weeks compared to 4 weeks, although there was no significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: CT did not exhibit an effect on QOL among cancer survivors, especially in 4 weeks. This might have been due to sample size, participants' potential low compliance resulting in an inability to confirm whether the CTs were performed accurately and continuously, and consideration of what CT suited them. Meanwhile, CT may require a longer time to increase QOL. We recommend further studies to address these factors when conducting CT as mind-body practice.

Complementary Therapy for Cancer Survivors: Integrative Nursing Care.

OBJECTIVE: The number of cancer patients who survive more than 5 years after the completion of their initial treatment is increasing. Oncology nurses must consider the needs of long-term cancer survivors in addition to those of cancer patients undergoing treatment because cancer survivors experience anxiety over several issues, including the risk of recurrence and progression of cancer status and symptom management. METHODS: We tried to examine the effect of complementary therapy (CT) to reduce anxiety. The experimental study compared an intervention group (5 males and 68 females) that underwent four CTs and a control group (5 males and 56 females) that received no intervention. The intervention group practiced the CTs in their home for 20 min/day, 2 days/week, for 8 weeks, for a total of 16 times, whereas the control group performed their usual routines. Stress response scale-18 (SRS-18) scores consisting of three subscales (depression-anxiety, temper-anger, and lethargy) were compared between the groups and across time within each group. RESULTS: The intervention group reduced depression and anxiety significantly than the control group. Furthermore, the intervention group expressed the following positive feedback: "being able to relax," "being distracted from their worries and anxieties," "being able to sleep," "feeling more in-touch with reality," and "wanting to continue the practice." CONCLUSIONS: The study might accurately reflect the perspectives of women with cancer because the majority of the patients were women. Meanwhile, the result suggests that CTs might be useful for long-term cancer survivors who experience anxiety that influence their quality of life.

The Effect of Complementary Therapy for Hospital Nurses with High Stress.

OBJECTIVE: This study was to examine the effect of complementary therapy (CT) for nurses with high stress levels. It was taken before we employ this technique for cancer survivors because cancer patients are a heterogeneous group that requires substantial resources to investigate. METHODS: A quasi-experimental design with five groups was employed for this study. The groups were examined whether there were effects for reducing the stress and the differences in effectiveness among four intervention groups and a nonintervention group. Stress relief was measured using pulse rate and blood pressure measurements and the short form of the profile of mood states (POMS-SF). The participants practiced the therapy for 20 min twice per week for 3 weeks. A two-way factorial analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The study enrolled 98 nurses (92 female and 6 male) with a mean age of 37.3 ± 10.5 years (range: 22-60 years). Fifty-nine nurses had 10 or more years of nursing experience. There were significant differences in pulse rate and the POMS-SF scores. All groups were effective for reducing the stress level of high-stress nurses, whereas four intervention CT groups were not more effective than nonintervention group. CONCLUSIONS: The complementary therapies were useful for nurses with high stress levels. Thus, they can be used as a self-management tool for such nurses. Afterward, we will use the CT for cancer survivors to determine whether it can improve the quality of life of cancer patients.

Oncology nurses' recognition of long-term cancer survivorship care in Japan.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the knowledge of definition of cancer survivors among Japanese oncology nurses and their roles in long-term cancer survivorship care. METHODS: A structured self-administered and self-report questionnaire created by the study investigators was given to members of the Japanese Society of Cancer Nursing. The subjects were 81 female oncology nurses. RESULTS: Forty-nine nurses had 11 or more years of nursing experience, while 27 nurses had cancer-related nursing certifications such as, certification in oncology nursing specialist. This study population had rather rich experience in oncology nursing. Sixty-two nurses defined a cancer survivor from the time of diagnosis, while the nurses' recognition of long-term survivorship care was poor, compared with nursing care at the time of diagnosis, during treatment, and end of life. CONCLUSIONS: The nurses were aware of the needs to recognize and address issues faced by long-term cancer survivors and for nursing study, but very few put the effective patient education and interventions into practice. It is because oncology nurses have few chances to see cancer survivors who go out of the hands of healthcare professionals. In increasing the number of long-term survivors, long-term survivorship care is needed in addition to incorporating such education into undergraduate and graduate programs. Further study on the knowledge of long-term cancer survivorship care and nursing practices are required.

Establishment of the Asia Oncology Nursing Society (AONS).

Over the past several years, whenever an informal group of Asian oncology nurses gathered, they talked about their mutual desire to create an organization closer to their homes that would be similar to the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS). They saw this as a means for more of their colleagues to learn about the latest in cancer nursing and to have a time and place to network among themselves. This message continued to gain strength whenever these nurses met at other international meetings such as the International Conference on Cancer Nursing (ICCN), the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and the Oncology Nursing Society in US. A definite and planned step toward forming an Asian organization as the first meeting was taken on June 24 2011 when several Asian nurses were attending a MASCC meeting in Greece. The second meeting was held in Prague, Czech Republic, in conjunction with the 17th ICCN meeting on September 10 2012, where the participants of the meeting included 21 oncology nurses from Asian countries. Finally, the first official meeting of the board directors from nine countries was held on November 21 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand. Now, and in the future, sharing and collaborating in the practice, education and research for oncology nursing in Asia is needed.

Newly diagnosed acute aortic dissection: characteristics, treatment modifications, and outcomes.

The objective of the present study was to examine cases of acute aortic dissection in order to analyze the clinical and diagnostic findings, and to summarize their treatment modalities, as well as their hospital outcomes. Between July 1998 and June 1999, we prospectively studied patients who were newly diagnosed as having acute aortic dissection at 25 hospitals in Mie prefecture. These cases were examined for their demographics, the characteristics of the clinical findings, diagnostic methods, treatment modalities according to the type of aortic dissection, and the early morbidity and mortality of the hospital outcomes. Of 66 newly diagnosed aortic dissections (43 males), 30 were type A and 36 were type B. Seventy-six percent of the cases arrived at a medical facility within 6 hours from the onset of symptoms. Frequent initial symptoms and clinical findings were pain in 95.5%, cardiac arrest and/or hypotension in 21%, pericardial effusion in 29%, pleural effusion in 25%, and neurological signs in 30%. Twenty-one patients underwent surgical repair, 36 were treated medically, and 5 underwent endovascular stenting. Overall early mortality was 12.1%, which included 2 DOA. Fifty percent of these deaths occurred within 48 hours, and 63% by 72 hours of the initial event. In spite of the relatively rare incidence of acute aortic dissection in our study, the calculated incidence was 4.0/100,000/year. The overall mortality rate was relatively low compared to the figures reported in the literature, suggesting the earliest possible diagnosis and timely intervention are critically important to attain successful outcomes.