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Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation
Recent clinical trials suggest that psychedelic-assisted therapy is a promising intervention for reducing anxiety and depression and ameliorating existential despair in advanced cancer patients. However, little is known about perceptions toward this treatment from the key gatekeepers to this populat...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8346095/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34360453 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18158160 |
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author | Reynolds, Lisa M. Akroyd, Amelia Sundram, Frederick Stack, Aideen Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh Evans, William J. |
author_facet | Reynolds, Lisa M. Akroyd, Amelia Sundram, Frederick Stack, Aideen Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh Evans, William J. |
author_sort | Reynolds, Lisa M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Recent clinical trials suggest that psychedelic-assisted therapy is a promising intervention for reducing anxiety and depression and ameliorating existential despair in advanced cancer patients. However, little is known about perceptions toward this treatment from the key gatekeepers to this population. The current study aimed to understand the perceptions of cancer healthcare professionals about the potential use of psychedelic-assisted therapy in advanced cancer patients. Twelve cancer healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers took part in a semi-structured interview which explored their awareness and perceptions toward psychedelic-assisted therapy with advanced cancer patients. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Four inter-connected themes were identified. Two themes relate to the role and responsibility of being a cancer healthcare worker: (1) ‘beneficence: a need to alleviate the suffering of cancer patients’ and (2) ‘non-maleficence: keeping vulnerable cancer patients safe’, and two themes relate specifically to the potential for psychedelic-assisted therapy as (3) ‘a transformative approach with the potential for real benefit’ but that (4) ‘new frontiers can be risky endeavours’. The findings from this study suggest intrigue and openness in cancer healthcare professionals to the idea of utilising psychedelic-assisted therapy with advanced cancer patients. Openness to the concept appeared to be driven by a lack of current effective treatment options and a desire to alleviate suffering. However, acceptance was tempered by concerns around safety and the importance of conducting rigorous, well-designed trials. The results from this study provide a useful basis for engaging with healthcare professionals about future research, trial design and potential clinical applications. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8346095 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83460952021-08-07 Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation Reynolds, Lisa M. Akroyd, Amelia Sundram, Frederick Stack, Aideen Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh Evans, William J. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Recent clinical trials suggest that psychedelic-assisted therapy is a promising intervention for reducing anxiety and depression and ameliorating existential despair in advanced cancer patients. However, little is known about perceptions toward this treatment from the key gatekeepers to this population. The current study aimed to understand the perceptions of cancer healthcare professionals about the potential use of psychedelic-assisted therapy in advanced cancer patients. Twelve cancer healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, psychologists and social workers took part in a semi-structured interview which explored their awareness and perceptions toward psychedelic-assisted therapy with advanced cancer patients. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Four inter-connected themes were identified. Two themes relate to the role and responsibility of being a cancer healthcare worker: (1) ‘beneficence: a need to alleviate the suffering of cancer patients’ and (2) ‘non-maleficence: keeping vulnerable cancer patients safe’, and two themes relate specifically to the potential for psychedelic-assisted therapy as (3) ‘a transformative approach with the potential for real benefit’ but that (4) ‘new frontiers can be risky endeavours’. The findings from this study suggest intrigue and openness in cancer healthcare professionals to the idea of utilising psychedelic-assisted therapy with advanced cancer patients. Openness to the concept appeared to be driven by a lack of current effective treatment options and a desire to alleviate suffering. However, acceptance was tempered by concerns around safety and the importance of conducting rigorous, well-designed trials. The results from this study provide a useful basis for engaging with healthcare professionals about future research, trial design and potential clinical applications. MDPI 2021-08-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8346095/ /pubmed/34360453 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18158160 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Reynolds, Lisa M. Akroyd, Amelia Sundram, Frederick Stack, Aideen Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh Evans, William J. Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation |
title | Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation |
title_full | Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation |
title_fullStr | Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation |
title_full_unstemmed | Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation |
title_short | Cancer Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions toward Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: A Preliminary Investigation |
title_sort | cancer healthcare workers’ perceptions toward psychedelic-assisted therapy: a preliminary investigation |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8346095/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34360453 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18158160 |
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