Assessing the Impact of Integrative Medicine on Anxiety and Wellbeing of Healthcare Providers Exposed to Terror or War

Israel Healthcare Foundation

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Quality of Life

Treatments: Other: Integrative medicine including manual and/or mind-body treatments

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06612749

15102023

Details and patient eligibility

About

The study assesses integrative medicine intervention effects on healthcare providers' quality-of-life during wartime.

Full description

The study is prospective, non-randomized and non-controlled, and taking place at the Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, northern Israel, from October 2023. The study was launched in proximity with the outbreak of the October 2023 war in the Middle East. As this timing was and is still regarded in Israel as an emergency life-threatening situation and considering the research limitation to healthcare providers only, the Carmel Medical Center Institutional Review Board has exempted the study from requiring written consent from participants, after reviewing the study protocol. However, Participation in the study was voluntary, and no incentive, financial or other was offered.

The hospital administration and department refer healthcare providers (HCPs) to integrative medicine intervention those if reporting emotional, physical, or other QoL concerns directly or indirectly related to the current conflict in Israel. The IM intervention entails a 30-minute treatment session, with an additional 10 minutes allocated for both pre- and post- treatment assessment. IM treatments are individually tailored to the HCP's QoL-related concerns, taking into consideration their willingness to undergo the recommended modalities. In all cases, a multi-modal IM program is recommended, which includes at least one of the following: acupuncture; manual-movement therapies (e.g., acupressure, Anthroposophic medicine touch therapies, reflexology, Qi Gong, and Feldenkrais method); and mind-body medicine (e.g., relaxation and breathing techniques). During these treatments participants are asked to lay on a treatment bed, with relaxed non-paced breathing throughout the session. The IM treatments are provided by IM-trained therapists who work in an integrative oncology setting.

Enrollment: 600 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 70 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthcare providers reporting war-related concerns affecting their quality of life

Exclusion criteria

* Healthcare providers with no quality-of-life related concerns they attribute to the war r

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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600 participants in 1 patient group

Integrative medicine intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Healthcare providers were treated for 30 minutes with integrative medicine based on manual and mind-body modalities

Treatment:

Other: Integrative medicine including manual and/or mind-body treatments