Perceptions of Touch in People With Cancer

Study Summary

This study is a qualitative, phenomenological research design. The research question is the lived experience of adult oncology patients undergoing chemotherapy being touched and touching. The researcher will conduct minimally-structured interviews with a set of follow-up interviews to verify interpretations and ascertain additional participant reflections on the phenomenon of touch. The purpose of this study is to describe the sensation of touch in adult oncology patients who are actively undergoing chemotherapy treatment. The primary objective is to identify the essences of multiple meanings of touch to these patients. The importance of touch in physiological development, learning patterns, and stress reduction has been demonstrated in humans and animals through years of research (Field, 2000). Based on research which indicates touch therapies provide a significant amount of symptom relief and reduction in anxiety, a growing number of hospitals and clinics are integrating massage therapy into services provided to patients in order to ameliorate many symptoms of diagnosis and/or treatment-related discomfort. Examples are the integrative medicine programs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and George Washington University Medical Center which include touch therapy modalities. Research focusing on the embodied experience of sensory phenomena such as touch is important to provide the basis for more effective care. No studies to date have focused on the self-reported experience of the cancer patient with regard to what touch means to these individuals, particularly those actively in treatment with intravenous chemotherapy. The embodied sensation of touch in these people is important to understand in order to provide more effective touch-based interventions and also to increase awareness of direct care staff, including nurses, of the profound and complex effect that all forms of touch have on those who are physically and psychically vulnerable.