title: Palliative in-patient cancer treatment in an anthroposophic hospital: II. Quality of life during and after stationary treatment, and subjective treatment benefits.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is an increasing demand for comprehensive forms of palliative cancer care, meeting physical as well as emotional, cognitive, spiritual and social needs. Therapy programs of anthroposophic hospitals are aimed at improving health and quality of life (QoL) at these levels. However, data on the influence of these programs on QoL of patients with advanced cancer are scarce.
  
  
  METHODS
  144 in-patients with advanced epithelial cancers were treated at the anthroposophic Lukas Klinik, Arlesheim, Switzerland. QoL was assessed upon admission, discharge and after 4 months, using 20 functional scales from the questionnaires EORTC QLQ-C30, HADS and SELT-M. Statistical testing was performed with the Wilcoxon signed rank test. At month 4, subjectively perceived benefits from anthroposophic medicine (AM) and conventional cancer therapy (CCT) were assessed by telephone.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to provide an account of global, physical, emotional, cognitive-spiritual and social QoL developments in advanced cancer patients, during and after in-patient AM treatment, and to investigate subjective benefits from AM and CCT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  QoL improvements were observed in all 20 dimensions (12 significant). Compared to related studies, improvements were fairly high. At month 4, QoL scores had decreased but were still above baseline in all 20 dimensions. Both AM and CCT were perceived as beneficial.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data provide evidence that in-patient therapy at an anthroposophic hospital can lead to significant QoL improvements, especially in emotional, but also global, physical, cognitive-spiritual and social aspects. Benefits of AM were experienced on the physical, emotional, cognitive- spiritual and social level. Benefits of CCT were tumor-focused.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Complementary Medicine KIKOM, University of Bern, Switzerland. peter.heusser@kikom.unibe.ch
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heusser
authors.forename: Sarah Berger
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bertschy
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burkhard
authors.forename: Renatus
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ziegler
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Helwig
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Wegberg
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cerny
mesh_terms: D000887:Anthroposophy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006782:Hospitals, Special; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013557:Switzerland