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Program
focused on body, mind and spirit helps women with breast
cancer cope
A program designed to care for the
whole person - body, mind and spirit
- has been found to help women with terminal cancer cope and
improved their quality of life, according to a study led by
researchers in the
Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
"The program helped improve distress and despair during the
initial three months and up to six months after diagnosis
among women with metastatic breast cancer and a six month
life expectancy," said Amy Abernethy, M.D., an oncologist at
Duke University Medical Center and lead investigator on the
study. "Even though the women were getting sicker and
experiencing more symptoms related to their cancer, they
reported that they felt less distress and despair as a
result of being able to better cope with the cancer."
Pathfinders focuses on the seven pillars of personal
recovery: hope, balance, inner strengths, self care,
support, spirit and life review. The program provides
patient navigation, counseling, coping skills training,
mind and body techniques and lifestyle
advice.
For this pilot study, the researchers enrolled 50 adult
breast cancer patients with a prognosis of less than six
months survival. The women met with a Pathfinder, a trained
social worker, at least monthly, plus telephone
conversations and e-mail exchanges. The social workers
helped the women identify inner strength, taught them coping
skills and
encouraged them to engage in
complementary and alternative medical
services.
"There is a growing body of data
that shows cancer patients have unmet psychosocial
needs, and with programs like Pathfinders we
are able to care for the whole
person," Abernethy said. "As a result, we
found that this group of women reported
a higher quality of life
three months after being diagnosed than was expected."
Duke University Medical Center 05 09
Concise
Encyclopedia
Also of interest:
Complementary
therapies are offered in conjunction with our fellow
professionals. Where beneficial to you, we may suggest a
“combo” program, combining all or some of the
therapies below:
For more details or to book an appointment for Hypnosis, Reflexology,
Aromatherapy, Reiki, NLP,
contact: us (some out of office hour appointments may be
available from time to time)
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