Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1299745
C h e c k o u t A B M P P o c k e t P a t h o l o g y a t w w w. a b m p . c o m / a b m p - p o c k e t - p a t h o l o g y - a p p . 67 Using the Distress Thermometer, we measured distress by asking a series of questions like: "How hard are you finding it to be alive today? How hard is it to form a coherent thought? How hard is it to think about things other than your illness?" This is where the value of the most relevant themes in the interviews comes clear. Participants pointed to loneliness, monotony, and invasive procedures as aspects of hospitalization that increased distress, decreased peacefulness, and colored their overall experience. With the inclusion of massage therapists, patient perception of their hospital experiences shifted. While they often reported no change (or comparatively little change) in their pain or anxiety scores, many reported a decrease in scores of distress and an increase in peace scores. If we had captured only pain or anxiety, massage therapists and their interventions would have appeared ineffective for many of these patients who did, indeed, experience palpable relief. The addition of distress and peace measures allowed us to see that, while the subjective pain "score" may have remained the same, the experience of that pain or anxiety became more "manageable." THE VALUE OF SUPPORTED COPING I remember one of our therapists telling me she worked with a patient who had extensive surgery and intense debridement (removal of infected, damaged, or dead tissue) to address an aggressive and idiopathic (of unknown origin) infection in his knee. The patient's wound was open, so the therapist was unable to work anywhere near the specific site of his most intense pain. After the massage, though, the patient told her, "Yep. I still have pain but it is no longer my predominant sensation." This patient's experience in the shift of pain experience is the tip of an incredibly important iceberg. If massage therapists might facilitate a window of real coping and presence in a patient's experience, what are the possibilities? What if a massage therapist could work with a patient in advance of a scheduled family meeting? What if a massage therapist could work with a patient right before or right after a session of physical or occupational therapy? We don't yet know how moments of manageability and supported coping can affect the overall trajectory of a patient's hospital stay or illness, but there are real possibilities here for augmentation of what is now standard of care. WHAT GOT US HERE WON'T GET US THERE When we look at research, there are so many things we can measure and ways we can measure them. When we wrote our paper, we referred to methods and findings revealed by research tools used in social work, chaplaincy, and psychotherapy studies. These tools are designed to capture