Cargando…

Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial

BACKGROUND: In a randomized controlled trial, compared with standard care alone in breast cancer, acupuncture as a prophylactic treatment did not show better quality of life or fewer side effects of chemotherapy (NCT01727362 [clinicaltrials.gov]). The aim of the qualitative part of this mixed method...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Stöckigt, Dr. med. Barbara, Kirschbaum, Barbara, Carstensen, Dr. med. Martin, Witt, Dr. med. Claudia M., Brinkhaus, Dr. med. Benno
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8646188/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34814766
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/15347354211058207
_version_ 1784610473661956096
author Stöckigt, Dr. med. Barbara
Kirschbaum, Barbara
Carstensen, Dr. med. Martin
Witt, Dr. med. Claudia M.
Brinkhaus, Dr. med. Benno
author_facet Stöckigt, Dr. med. Barbara
Kirschbaum, Barbara
Carstensen, Dr. med. Martin
Witt, Dr. med. Claudia M.
Brinkhaus, Dr. med. Benno
author_sort Stöckigt, Dr. med. Barbara
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In a randomized controlled trial, compared with standard care alone in breast cancer, acupuncture as a prophylactic treatment did not show better quality of life or fewer side effects of chemotherapy (NCT01727362 [clinicaltrials.gov]). The aim of the qualitative part of this mixed methods study was to better understand the subjective perspectives of the patients regarding quality of life during chemotherapy and the perceived effects of acupuncture. METHODS: In a nested retrospective qualitative study, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 5 responders and 5 non-responders (defined by the outcome of the primary parameter FACT-B) who were randomly selected from both study arms. The interviews were digitally recorded, pseudonymized, transcribed, and then deductively and inductively analyzed according to Qualitative Content Analysis using MAXQDA(®) software. RESULTS: A total of 20 patients were included in the qualitative part of the study. In both groups, most women stated that their quality of life was surprisingly better than what they had expected before starting the chemotherapy. All patients of the acupuncture group experienced the acupuncture treatments as relaxing and beneficial, mentioning a friendly setting, and empathic attitude of the therapist. Most of these patients stated that the acupuncture treatment reduced chemotherapy-induced side effects. The patients reported that acupuncture was supportive for coping with the disease in a salutogenic way. For all patients, finding strategies to cope with life-threatening cancer and the side effects of chemotherapy was essential, for example, keeping a positive attitude toward life, selecting social contacts, and staying active as much as possible. CONCLUSIONS: Patients in the acupuncture group reported positive effects on psychological and physical well-being after receiving the study intervention. For all patients, having coping strategies for cancer seemed to be more important than reducing side effects. Therefore, further studies should focus more on coping strategies and reducing acute side effects.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8646188
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher SAGE Publications
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-86461882021-12-07 Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial Stöckigt, Dr. med. Barbara Kirschbaum, Barbara Carstensen, Dr. med. Martin Witt, Dr. med. Claudia M. Brinkhaus, Dr. med. Benno Integr Cancer Ther Research Article BACKGROUND: In a randomized controlled trial, compared with standard care alone in breast cancer, acupuncture as a prophylactic treatment did not show better quality of life or fewer side effects of chemotherapy (NCT01727362 [clinicaltrials.gov]). The aim of the qualitative part of this mixed methods study was to better understand the subjective perspectives of the patients regarding quality of life during chemotherapy and the perceived effects of acupuncture. METHODS: In a nested retrospective qualitative study, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 5 responders and 5 non-responders (defined by the outcome of the primary parameter FACT-B) who were randomly selected from both study arms. The interviews were digitally recorded, pseudonymized, transcribed, and then deductively and inductively analyzed according to Qualitative Content Analysis using MAXQDA(®) software. RESULTS: A total of 20 patients were included in the qualitative part of the study. In both groups, most women stated that their quality of life was surprisingly better than what they had expected before starting the chemotherapy. All patients of the acupuncture group experienced the acupuncture treatments as relaxing and beneficial, mentioning a friendly setting, and empathic attitude of the therapist. Most of these patients stated that the acupuncture treatment reduced chemotherapy-induced side effects. The patients reported that acupuncture was supportive for coping with the disease in a salutogenic way. For all patients, finding strategies to cope with life-threatening cancer and the side effects of chemotherapy was essential, for example, keeping a positive attitude toward life, selecting social contacts, and staying active as much as possible. CONCLUSIONS: Patients in the acupuncture group reported positive effects on psychological and physical well-being after receiving the study intervention. For all patients, having coping strategies for cancer seemed to be more important than reducing side effects. Therefore, further studies should focus more on coping strategies and reducing acute side effects. SAGE Publications 2021-11-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8646188/ /pubmed/34814766 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/15347354211058207 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Research Article
Stöckigt, Dr. med. Barbara
Kirschbaum, Barbara
Carstensen, Dr. med. Martin
Witt, Dr. med. Claudia M.
Brinkhaus, Dr. med. Benno
Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial
title Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial
title_full Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial
title_fullStr Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial
title_full_unstemmed Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial
title_short Prophylactic Acupuncture Treatment During Chemotherapy in Patients With Breast Cancer: Results of a Qualitative Study Nested in a Randomized Pragmatic Trial
title_sort prophylactic acupuncture treatment during chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer: results of a qualitative study nested in a randomized pragmatic trial
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8646188/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34814766
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/15347354211058207
work_keys_str_mv AT stockigtdrmedbarbara prophylacticacupuncturetreatmentduringchemotherapyinpatientswithbreastcancerresultsofaqualitativestudynestedinarandomizedpragmatictrial
AT kirschbaumbarbara prophylacticacupuncturetreatmentduringchemotherapyinpatientswithbreastcancerresultsofaqualitativestudynestedinarandomizedpragmatictrial
AT carstensendrmedmartin prophylacticacupuncturetreatmentduringchemotherapyinpatientswithbreastcancerresultsofaqualitativestudynestedinarandomizedpragmatictrial
AT wittdrmedclaudiam prophylacticacupuncturetreatmentduringchemotherapyinpatientswithbreastcancerresultsofaqualitativestudynestedinarandomizedpragmatictrial
AT brinkhausdrmedbenno prophylacticacupuncturetreatmentduringchemotherapyinpatientswithbreastcancerresultsofaqualitativestudynestedinarandomizedpragmatictrial