Background and objective:
Pain and subjective distress management in patients with cancer is one of the top care priorities. Thus, the present study was performed with the aim of investigating the efficacy of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on the pain intensity and the subjective distress of patients with cancer within a 24 -month follow-up.
Materials and methods: A randomized controlled trial study was performed on patients with cancer suffering from moderate to severe cancer pain in Shahid Jalil hospital in Yasuj, Iran in 2019-2020. Among 74 patients with cancer, 60 patients aged between 30-60 years who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were chosen using consensus sampling technique. They were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups based on random block allocation.EMDR therapy was administered in seven 1-hour sessions on a daily basis individually over a 24-month period in the counseling room. In each session the patients completed the Subjective Units of Distress scale (SUD) and a Numeric Pain-Rating Scale (NRS) before and after the intervention. On the other hand, the control group received no intervention. Follow-up measures were obtained 24-month later for both groups. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi-square test, independent t-test, and repeated- measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) using SPSS version 24. The significance level was considered as P<0.05. Results:Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated that the mean intensity of pain and the subjective distress in the experimental group before, after the intervention, and in the 24-month follow-up were a significant reduction (P<0.001). In the control group, no decreases occurred at the same time (P>0.05).The differences between two groups also were statistically significant (P<0.001) Conclusion:The results indicated that EMDR has been effective in reducing the pain and subjective distress of patients with cancer and its effect was sustained after the two-month follow-up. Thus, it is recommended to use this effective and new method for pain and subjective distress mitigation among patients with cancer.
Abdi N, Mansourian A, Hejr H, Zaj P, Sabz G A, Alizadeh M. Efficacy of the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing on the pain intensity and subjective distress of patients with cancer: A randomized controlled trial within 24 -month follow-up. ارمغان دانش. 2022; 27 (2) :140-154 URL: http://armaghanj.yums.ac.ir/article-1-3225-en.html