Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #102694

Diane A. Kempson, MSW, PhD, Division of Social Work, University of Wyoming, P.O. Box 3632, Ross Hall 111, Laramie, WY 82071-3632, 307-766-2516, dkempson@uwyo.edu and Virginia M. Conley, PhD, FNP, Fay W. Whitney School of Nursing, University of Wyoming, P.O. Box 3065, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071.

The benefits of therapeutic massage are well documented but no studies have examined the potential reciprocal benefits of touch therapy for both hospice patients and their caregivers. This presentation describes the research design for a proposed pilot study to test the feasibility and potential effectiveness of a massage intervention aimed at enhancing the well-being of family caregivers and their loved ones receiving hospice care and at positively impacting the caregivers' grief response. This quasi-experimental study will test a methodology for conducting research in which rural-dwelling caregivers are trained to provide gentle massage twice daily for 15-minute periods during a two-week time span. The study, involving 12 dyads of family caregivers and hospice patients, will also evaluate the interventions' potential effects on caregivers' stress, mood, quality of life, and burden during the intervention period and on their quality of life and grief response six months after the hospice patients' deaths. Although the study's primary focus is on caregiver outcomes, care recipients' stress and response to the intervention will be examined as well. Data will be collected using established measures, daily logs, and post intervention interviews. Analysis will examine issues of frequency of measurement; level of burden associated with participation in the study and implementation of the intervention; and caregivers' and care recipients' responses to the intervention. Results will serve as the basis for developing a larger study using an experimental design to fully evaluate the effects of the intervention on caregiver and care recipient outcomes.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Identify methodological problems and research questions in a study of the effects of a massage therapy intervention provided by caregivers to their loved ones nearing the end of life.
• Discuss the research design of this study.
• Recognize, through analysis of the literature, the potential benefits of a conceptual framework that integrates massage therapy intervention with end-of-life care.
• Describe the particular characteristics of rural end-of-life caregivers.
• Articulate the benefits of massage therapy on reduction of stress and grief resolution.
• Recognize the significance of researching the reciprocal effects of massage on caregivers' grief responses.

Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, End-of-Life Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation