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Attitudes of Oncology Massage Therapists
toward Caregiver Education for CIPN
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The Problem
•With no curative treatment, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy
(CIPN) is widespread and significantly undermines quality of life.
•Massage targeting CIPN has been demonstrated in several studies to
significantly reduce symptoms.
•While sufferers could benefit from regular use of massage, access to
professional providers poses both logistical and economic challenges.
•Caregivers are capable of learning safe and effective massage techniques,
use of which may benefit both the caregiver and the patient.
•However, there currently is no caregiver education product that teaches
caregivers techniques and safety precautions specifically addressing
CIPN.
Proposed Solution
•We propose an mHealth app for caregivers to address care for CIPN using
safe manual techniques at home.
•The National Cancer Institute (R43CA268678) funded research for
development and evaluation of a caregiver education mobile app on use of
a specific manual therapy protocol at home for CIPN.
•The title of the project is “mHealth app for caregiver instruction in manual
therapy for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy”.
•The proposed final product would be available online with a web view for
non-mobile devices and as a downloadable hybrid mobile app using a
native app container displaying the web-based content.
Survey of OMT Attitudes toward
Caregiver Education for CIPN
•To assess attitudes of professional Oncology Massage Therapists (OMTs)
toward the concept and use of the proposed mobile app, we conducted an
online survey in January/February 2023.
•The survey was circulated via organizational newsletters to:
⎼Membership of the Society for Oncology Massage (S4OM)
⎼Licensed Oncology Massage Practitioners;working with the Philadelphia-based non-
profit cancer support;organization Unite for HER
⎼Graduates of Healwell’s training programs in oncology massage
•Respondents followed a link to the survey on PsychData.com
•Responses were anonymous
•107 responses were received
Survey Questions
1. About how many years have you been practicing oncology massage? (enter a number)
2. Have you had specific training or continuing education in massage focused on
Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy (CIPN)? (yes, no);
3. To what degree do you think massage can reduce symptoms of CIPN? (0 not at all, to
10 a great deal);
4. Have you taught family caregivers any massage techniques to help with CIPN in a
loved one? (yes, no)
5. To what degree do you think family caregivers are capable of learning massage
techniques that might help with CIPN in a loved one? (0 not at all, to 10 a great deal)
6. If an educational mobile app was effective in teaching family caregivers techniques to
help with CIPN, how likely would you be to recommend it? (0 not at all, to 10 a great
deal)
7. Comments (optional)
Survey Results (N=107)
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Comments from Respondents
•I believe an app would be a wonderful way for family, caregivers and patients to learn, and be able
to continue to see how to do the protocol. It can be a little scary when you want to help a loved one
and not sure how to do it, do not want to hurt them.
•It's such a simple technique with the potential of helping so many that suffer from CIPN, it really
makes no sense to not have those that are part of the patient's care team learn the technique. I
have taught many family members and friends.
•This would be awesome, especially if started at beginning of the chemo treatment.
•I have worked in a variety of massage settings over the years and have ALWAYS offered to teach
my clients or their care givers simple techniques to provide care and relief through massage. I have
found that family or caregiver massage has given those closet to a suffering patient one more tool to
feel effective, supportive and responsive to their loved ones needs. I have received feedback that
informed massage was helpful and effective to both the patient receiving massage and the
caregivers ability to respond with non-pharmaceutical response.
•This is a superb idea. CIPN is best treated regularly which makes it best done by someone close to
home - massage is expensive and time-consuming, put the skills in the hands of people who can
offer this care with minimal instruction.
•CIPN was covered with other oncology massage courses... mixed in. I think an educational mobile
app for lay caregivers would be very beneficial.