Original StudyA Prospective Cohort Study on the Impact of Reflexology in Patients With Breast Cancer Using the MYCaW Scale
Section snippets
Background
It is widely accepted that practices akin to reflexology have been employed since ancient times; modern reflexology, however, dates back to the work of William Fitzgerald in the 20th century, the practice of which was further developed in the 1930s by Eunice Ingham who named the practice “Reflexology”. The technique is based on the principle that ‘reflex’ areas or points on the feet and hands connect to corresponding areas and organs throughout the body. Reflexologists stimulate these areas by
Patients and Methods
Patients underwent 6 sessions of reflexology, each lasting 45 minutes. The patients were invited to relax on a reclining chair or treatment couch, or to put their feet up on a footstool. The feet were then cleansed at the start of the treatment, after which the reflexology zones on the feet were stimulated as per standard protocol by a single reflexologist.
The ‘Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing’ (MYCaW) questionnaire was deemed to be the most suitable tool of evaluating the service. It is
Referral Process
On reviewing the referral forms, it was found that patients were referred for reflexology largely by their breast care nurse or their consultant; more specifically, 39% were referred by their breast care nurse, 30% by their consultant clinician, 12% by the family history nurse, and 19% by an unknown referrer. Referral forms were analyzed with correlating MYCaW forms to determine if the reason for referral to the service by the referrer matched the patient’s concern. It was found that of those
Discussion
On average, our results show statistically significant improvements in both groups: 42.4% in the MYCaW score, 41.2% in the well-being scores, and 44.2% in the concern scores highlighted by patients. Results for the breast cancer group seemed to be more substantial than for the NBC group (MYCaW score, 46.8% vs. 40.0%; Well-being, 43.4% vs. 37.8%; Concern, 46.2% vs. 41.4%, for the breast cancer and NBC groups, respectively); however, on comparative analysis between both groups, the improvement in
Disclosure
The authors have stated that they have no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgments
This research project was funded by The Breast Unit Charity, part of the Princess Alexandra Hospital Charity. Registration No. 1054745.
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