Abstract
Literature suggests Oncology Massage (OM) reduces anxiety. However, research is limited in large, diverse, nonexperimentally manipulated outpatient samples of cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to 1) describe OM visit patterns, 2) describe anxiety response to OM, and 3) determine if OM resulted in significantly reduced anxiety at first visit, across all visits, and longitudinally over time controlling for demographic factors. From January 2015-June 2019, a cohesive, consecutive, retrospective sample evaluated their anxiety before and immediately after OM from 0=no anxiety to 10=worst possible anxiety during routine clinical therapy within an Integrative Oncology program at an academic hybrid, multi-site, community-based cancer institute. Descriptive statistics summarized patient characteristics, visit patterns, and anxiety outcomes. A paired t-test compared pre- to post- anxiety before and after the first OM visit and a variance component model evaluated anxiety scores across all visits. Pre-therapy anxiety was modelled longitudinally. A mixed model and a weighted least squares linear model estimated anxiety over time. 749 patients attended 2,666 total visits. 428 of the 749 (57.1%) recorded at least two visits. OM therapy usage patterns were diverse for all characteristics measured (i.e., days between first and second visits, days between adjacent visits, duration of OM therapy). OM was associated with significantly decreased anxiety after the first visit (p
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