Leveraging iPads to introduce meditation and reduce distress among cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy: a promising approach

Purpose Distress is common among cancer patients. Regular meditation practice has the potential to mitigate this distress and improve quality of life for this population. Introducing meditation to cancer patients can be particularly challenging given the demands on patients’ time from treatment and...

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Published in:	Supportive care in cancer Vol. 23; no. 12; pp. 3393 - 3394
Main Authors:	Millegan, Jeffrey, Manschot, Bernard, Dispenzieri, Monica, Marks, Benjamin, Edwards, Ayesha, Raulston, Vanessa, Khatiwoda, Yojana, Narro, Marlo
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2015 Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Adult Aged Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use Cancer Chemotherapy Combined Modality Therapy - methods Combined Modality Therapy - psychology Commentary Female Humans Male Medicine Medicine & Public Health Meditation Meditation - methods Meditation - psychology Middle Aged Mindfulness - instrumentation Mindfulness - methods Mobile Applications Mobile communications networks Neoplasms - psychology Neoplasms - therapy Nursing Nursing Research Oncology Pain Medicine Patients Quality of Life Rehabilitation Medicine Stress, Psychological - prevention & control Telemedicine - instrumentation Telemedicine - methods User-Computer Interface Chemotherapy Distress Meditation iPads Mindfulness
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Summary:	Purpose Distress is common among cancer patients. Regular meditation practice has the potential to mitigate this distress and improve quality of life for this population. Introducing meditation to cancer patients can be particularly challenging given the demands on patients’ time from treatment and normal life events. This internal process improvement study examined the potential benefit of utilizing iPads during chemotherapy sessions to introduce meditation and reduce distress. Methods Patients undergoing chemotherapy infusion were offered iPads with various meditation videos and audio files during the session. Levels of distress were measured using the distress thermometer at the beginning of chemotherapy and at the conclusion of chemotherapy. Results Seventy-three patients accepted the meditation iPads during the chemotherapy session. Among those who accepted the iPads, average distress dropped 46 % by the end of the session ( p < 0.0001). Conclusions The use of iPads during chemotherapy is a potentially effective way to introduce meditation as a stress management tool for people with cancer.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0941-4355 1433-7339
DOI:	10.1007/s00520-015-2891-6