Complementary and alternative medical interventions for the management of anxiety in parents of children who are hospitalized and suffer from a malignancy: a systematic review of RCTs

Abstract

Introduction: This paper reports the findings of a systematic review which evaluates the evidence from RCTs regarding the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medical interventions (CAM) in reducing anxiety in parents whose children suffer from malignancies. Method: CINAHL, COCHRANE, EMBASE, PUBMED, SCOPUS and PSYCINFO electronic databases were searched, based on the following search terms: parent*, child*, anxiety, complementary, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, interventions, cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, ‘brain tumors’. Results: In total 9 studies met the eligibility criteria. Six RCT’s were pilot studies. Five trials targeted parents of children undergoing bone marrow transplantation, two studies targeted parents of children with various cancer diagnoses and two others targeted parents of children with leukemia. A variety of stress reduction techniques were reported. Overall, 5/9 of the studies reported the use of massage therapy. In two out of the five studies which used massage therapy on children as an intervention, massage was accompanied with relaxation/imagery in the first and in the second, parents delivered acupressure to their children. Two other studies used breathing techniques/guided imagery, another one used relaxation training and the last one used inhalation aromatherapy. Conclusions: The methodological quality of reviewed RCT’s studies was low and many failed to provide sufficient information in order to assess their quality on many of the methodological indicators. Although, the review did not provide strong evidence in favor of CAM interventions, the results were encouraging. The studies showed promising results and some positive trends such as the feasibility and acceptability of CAM interventions in pediatric oncology/hematology unit.