Therapeutic touch, dialogue, and women's experiences in breast cancer surgery.
The article describes the development of a nursing intervention based on the science of unitary human beings that has the potential to help women have more positive experiences during the time of breast cancer surgery. The intervention, therapeutic touch and dialogue, is expected to result in decreased state anxiety and postoperative pain and a more positive affect balance. It is recommended that nurses maintain objective anecdotal records of their experiences with therapeutic touch and dialogue and that future research include randomized controlled clinical trials as well as studies to explore therapeutic touch's mechanism of action.
Samarel
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Department of Nursing, William Paterson College of New Jersey, Wayne, USA.
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D018939:Holistic Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D019990:Perioperative Care / Q000523:psychology; D019124:Therapeutic Touch / Q000523:psychology*