The Use of Massage Therapy for Reducing Pain, Anxiety, and Depression in Oncological Palliative Care Patients: A Narrative Review of the Literature
Table 1
Inclusion and exclusion criteria applied to the literature research (own illustration).
Inclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria
Population
(i) Oncological patients older than 18 years of age
(i) Oncological patients younger than 18 years of age
(ii) Advanced disease stage (terminal phase)
(ii) Oncological patients also suffering from a psychosis
Intervention
(i) Massage therapy
(i) Acupuncture and acupressure
(ii) Full-body massage
(ii) Reflexology
(iii) Partial massage (iv) Hand massage
(iii) Aroma therapy massage
(iv) Lymphatic drainage and all other forms of complementary medicine therapies
Outcome
(i) Pain
(i) All other disease symptoms and result parameters
(ii) Anxiety
(iii) Depression
Setting
(i) Palliative care in hospice facilities, at home or in an oncological centre
(i) Acute and intensive care unit
(ii) Patients not receiving palliative care
Year of publication
(i) From 2000 to 2010
(i) Before the year 2000
Language
(i) English
(i) All other languages
(ii) German
(iii) Italian
Key words. Advanced cancer, terminal neoplasms, end-of-life, terminal disease, massage, massage therapy, Swedish massage, hand massage, palliative care, hospice care, end of life care, pain, anxiety, depression, mood.
