Three lessons from a randomized trial of massage and meditation at end of life: Patient benefit, outcome measure selection, and design of trials with terminally ill patients

American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine

Volumn 26, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 246-253

  Downey, Lois ^a,b   Engelberg, Ruth A ^b   Standish, Leanna J ^c   Kozak, Leila ^c,d   Lafferty, William E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

^c BASTYR UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

Clinical trial design; Complementary and alternative medicine; End of life; Hospice care; Outcome measure selection; Palliative care; Patient benefit; Patient preference

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; CLINICAL TRIAL; CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL; CONTROLLED STUDY; FAMILY; FEMALE; FOLLOW UP; HUMAN; MALE; MASSAGE; MEDITATION; METHODOLOGY; MIDDLE AGED; MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS; NONPARAMETRIC TEST; PAIN; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PSYCHOTHERAPY; QUALITY OF LIFE; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL; STATISTICAL MODEL; TERMINAL CARE; TREATMENT OUTCOME; UNITED STATES;

ADULT; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; FAMILY; FEMALE; FOLLOW-UP STUDIES; HUMANS; IMAGERY (PSYCHOTHERAPY); LOGISTIC MODELS; MALE; MASSAGE; MEDITATION; MIDDLE AGED; MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS; PAIN; QUALITY OF LIFE; RESEARCH DESIGN; STATISTICS, NONPARAMETRIC; TERMINAL CARE; TREATMENT OUTCOME; WASHINGTON;

EID: 70349086897     PISSN: 10499091     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1049909109331887     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. Field MJ, Cassel CK, eds. Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life. Committee on Care at the End of Life, Division of Health Care Services, Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1997.
2. Engelberg RA. Measuring the quality of dying and death: methodological considerations and recent findings. Curr Opin Crit Care. 2006;12:381-387.
3. Wilkie DJ, Kampbell J, Cutshall S, et al. Effects of massage on pain intensity, analgesics and quality of life in patients with cancer pain: a pilot study of a randomized clinical trial conducted within hospice care delivery. Hospice J. 2000;15:31-53.
4. Wilcock A., Manderson C., Weller R., et al. Does aromatherapy massage benefit patients with cancer attending a specialist palliative care day centre? Palliat Med. 2004;18:287-290.
5. Downey L, Diehr P, Standish LJ, et al. Might massage or guided meditation provide "means to a better end"? primary outcomes from an efficacy trial with patients at the end of life. Under review at J Palliat Care. 2009; 25(2). In press.
6. Chang VT, Hwang SS, Feuerman M, Kasimis BS, Thaler HT. The Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale Short Form (MSAS-SF). Cancer. 2000;89: 1162-1171.
7. SPSS, Inc. SPSS for Windows, Release 14.0.0. Chicago: SPSS Inc; 2005.
8. Muthén LK, Muthén BO Mplus User's Guide. 4th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén; 1998-2006.
9. Mitchell GK, Abernethy AP. Investigators of the Queensland Case Conferences Trial; Palliative Care Trial. A comparison of methodologies from two longitudinal community-based randomized controlled trials of similar interventions in palliative care: what worked and what did not? J Palliat Med. 2005;8: 1226-1237.
10. McWhinney IR, Bass MJ, Donner A. Evaluation of a palliative care service: problems and pitfalls. Br Med J. 1994;309:1340-1342.
11. Grande GE, Todd CJ. Why are trials in palliative care so difficult? Palliat Med. 2000;14:69-74.
12. Rinck GC, van den Bos GAM, Kleijnen J, Haes HJCJM, Schadé E, Veenhof CHN. Methodologic issues in effectiveness research on palliative cancer care: a systematic review. J Clin Oncol. 1997; 15:1697-1707.
13. Sinha I, Sinha I, Jones L, Smyth RL, Williamson PR. A systematic review of studies that aim to determine which outcomes to measure in clinical trials in children. PLoS Med. 2008; 5:e96.
14. Tugwell P, Boers M. OMERACT conference on outcome measures in rheumatoid arthritis clinical trials: introduction. J Rheumatol. 1993;20:528-530.
15. Brewin CR, Bradley C. Patient preferences and randomized clinical trials. Br Med J. 1989;299:313-315.