A Randomized Clinical Trial of Caregiver-Delivered Reflexology for Symptom Management During Breast Cancer Treatment

Purpose. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of a home-based reflexology intervention delivered by a friend/family caregiver compared with attention control on health-related quality of life of women with advanced breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, targeted and/or hormonal therapy. Methods. Patient-caregiver dyads (N = 256) were randomized to four weekly reflexology sessions or attention control. Caregivers in the intervention group were trained in a 30-minute protocol. During the four weeks, both groups had telephone symptom assessments, and intervention group had fidelity assessments. The intervention effects were assessed using linear mixed-effects models at weeks 5 and 11 for symptom severity and interference with daily activities, functioning, social support, quality of patient-caregiver relationship, and satisfaction with life. Results. Significant reductions in average symptom severity (P = 0.02) and interference (P < 0.01) over 11 weeks were found in the reflexology group compared with control, with no group differences in functioning, social support, quality of relationship, or satisfaction with life at weeks 5 and 11. Stronger quality of relationship was associated with lower symptom interference in the entire sample (P = 0.02), but controlling for it did not diminish the effect of intervention on symptoms. Significant reductions in symptom severity in the reflexology group compared with attention control were seen during weeks 2-5 but were reduced at Week 11. Discussion. Efficacy findings of caregiver-delivered reflexology with respect to symptom reduction open a new evidencebased avenue for home-based symptom management. J Pain Symptom Manage 2017; 54: 670-679. (C) 2017 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.NCI grant [R01 CA157459]12 month embargo; published online: 23 July 2017This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu