The Effects of Thai Massage on Comfort and Symptoms among Female Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy

Background: Chemotherapy is the most common modality for cancer management, but it is associated with many side effects. Objectives: This study evaluated the effects of Thai massage on comfort and symptoms among female cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conducted in 2017–2018 with a two-group pre-posttest design. Participants were sixty female patients with cancer selected from Bu-Ali Hospital in Tehran, Iran, and randomly allocated to a control and an intervention group. Participants in the control group received routine care, while their counterparts in the intervention group received both routine care and ten-session massage therapy. A demographic questionnaire, the Kolcaba's General Comfort Questionnaire, and the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square, Fisher's exact, independent-samples t, and paired-samples t-tests. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups respecting the pretest mean scores of comfort and symptoms (P > 0.05). After the intervention, the mean score of comfort in the control group was statistically significantly greater than the intervention group (137.4 ± 6.8 vs. 131.53 ± 9.61; P = 0.008). Moreover, the posttest mean scores of pain, fatigue, nausea, depression, anxiety, and drowsiness in the intervention group were significantly less than the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Massage therapy is effective in significantly reducing symptoms among female cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.