Resumo

ALVES, Márcia Lúcia Sousa Dias; JARDIM, Maria Helena de Agrela Gonçalves; GOMES, Bárbara Pereira  e  FREITAS, Otília Maria Silva. Effect of massage therapy in the mental health of people with cancer pathology. Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Saúde Mental [online]. 2015, n.spe2, pp.119-122. ISSN 1647-2160.

BACKGROUND: Nurses should interact with people in health status or disease, improving their socio-cultural context and its process transition. These interactions are organized with a purpose in which nurses use therapeutic actions to promote health. Therapeutic massage is to press and rub the body or parts thereof for therapeutic purposes. AIM: Evaluate the effect of massage therapy intervention in the mental health of people with cancer pathology. METHODS: Systematic literature review through the descriptors "patients", "oncology" and "massage", from 2000 to 2012 studies, in databases and online search engines. RESULTS: The study was composed of 15 items and shows that massage therapy reduces, either immediately or the long term, anxiety and depression. However, there are studies in which there were no differences in these variables. This intervention improves, immediately, relaxation, emotional well-being and sleep patterns, pain, physical and emotional discomfort and fatigue. There were no statistically significant differences which would support improved quality of life, stress and suffering. CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic massage has beneficial effects in the short term in the mental health of people with cancer pathology. However, with regard to anxiety and depression the results analyzed are contradictory, reporting for future investigations. We suggest further research to most empirical consistency on the effect of massage therapy intervention, mental health of people with cancer pathology and thus contribute to the practice of nursing excellence based on evidence.

Palavras-chave : Patients; Oncology; Massage.

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