TY - JOUR
T1 - Spiritual interventions for cancer pain
T2 - a systematic review and narrative synthesis
AU - Hindmarch, Thomas
AU - Dalrymple, James
AU - Smith, Matthew
AU - Barclay, Stephen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2022/4/11
Y1 - 2022/4/11
N2 - Background Pain is a common and debilitating cancer-related symptom. In palliative care, physical, psychological, social and spiritual factors are thought to contribute to individual experience of pain. Consequently, spiritual care interventions are advocated in the management of cancer-related pain. Aim To systematically review the published literature concerning spiritual interventions in the management of cancer-related pain. Methodology Seven databases (Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched for quantitative studies of pain in patients with cancer receiving spiritual care interventions, with additional reference and citation searches. Research quality and relevance was appraised using Gough’s ‘Weight of Evidence’ framework prior to narrative synthesis. Results The search identified 12 822 articles, of which 11 were included in the synthesis. Few studies have investigated spiritual interventions in the management of cancer pain: a minority of these demonstrate statistical benefit. Some evidence suggests spiritual care may aid in coping with pain, rather than altering pain intensity. Spiritual interventions are well received by patients with cancer and do not appear to cause harm. Conclusion Current evidence provides limited support for the use of spiritual care interventions in the management of cancer pain. The paucity and heterogeneity of literature points to a need for high-quality research with judgements of spiritual intervention efficacy made on an individual basis.
AB - Background Pain is a common and debilitating cancer-related symptom. In palliative care, physical, psychological, social and spiritual factors are thought to contribute to individual experience of pain. Consequently, spiritual care interventions are advocated in the management of cancer-related pain. Aim To systematically review the published literature concerning spiritual interventions in the management of cancer-related pain. Methodology Seven databases (Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched for quantitative studies of pain in patients with cancer receiving spiritual care interventions, with additional reference and citation searches. Research quality and relevance was appraised using Gough’s ‘Weight of Evidence’ framework prior to narrative synthesis. Results The search identified 12 822 articles, of which 11 were included in the synthesis. Few studies have investigated spiritual interventions in the management of cancer pain: a minority of these demonstrate statistical benefit. Some evidence suggests spiritual care may aid in coping with pain, rather than altering pain intensity. Spiritual interventions are well received by patients with cancer and do not appear to cause harm. Conclusion Current evidence provides limited support for the use of spiritual care interventions in the management of cancer pain. The paucity and heterogeneity of literature points to a need for high-quality research with judgements of spiritual intervention efficacy made on an individual basis.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124850771&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bmjspcare-2021-003102
DO - 10.1136/bmjspcare-2021-003102
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34667066
AN - SCOPUS:85124850771
SN - 2045-435X
VL - 12
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
JF - BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care
IS - 1
ER -
