Healing Touch During Chemotherapy Infusions for Women With Breast Cancer

Stanford University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Breast Cancer

Treatments: Procedure: guided relaxation; Procedure: Healing Touch; Other: Standard care

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT00533663

BRSADJ0007

IRB-07696

Details and patient eligibility

About

To study if Healing Touch is effective during chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer

Full description

To study the effectiveness of Healing Touch provided during chemotherapy infusions on the experience of women undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Healing Touch (HT) is a gentle, non-invasive form of energy-balancing work that promotes relaxation and can help manage the side effects of chemotherapy.

Enrollment: 32 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 70 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:- Stage I or II breast cancer

• Post-operative
• Concurrent enrollment on a treatment protocol of 8 weeks of adriamycin + cyclophosphamide given every other week followed by 8 weeks of paclitaxel given every other week
• ECOG Performance Status: 0 to 2
• Speak and read English

Exclusion Criteria:- Previous chemotherapy exposure

• Concomitant energy-work interventions (HT, Reiki, QiGong, acupuncture).

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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32 participants in 3 patient groups

Standard Care + Healing Touch (HT)

Experimental group

Description:

A a gentle, non-invasive form of energy-balancing work that promotes relaxation and can help manage the side effects of chemotherapy. It occurs every other week (during their infusion).

Treatment:

Other: Standard care

Procedure: Healing Touch

Standard Care + Guided relaxation

Active Comparator group

Description:

Guided relaxation every other week (during their infusion).

Treatment:

Other: Standard care

Procedure: guided relaxation

standard care only

Active Comparator group

Description:

Standard care

Treatment:

Other: Standard care