Abstract
Despite the impressive progress made over the past decades in addressing cancer, the disease remains one of the major causes of death. Moreover, cancer causes patients a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort. This paper considers the idea of incorporating alternative treatment options, namely, acupuncture, chiropractic, and herbal medications into the existing framework for managing cancer in patients.
Project Description
Background
Although there is a plethora of severe health conditions that affect people’s lives drastically and lead to fatal outcomes, cancer remains one of the most dreaded diagnoses, for understandable reasons. Indeed, despite the advances made in the management of cancer, particularly, the surgical removal of the tumor and the following therapy allowing to reduce health risks, cancer remains one of the major causes of death worldwide (de Martel et al., 2020).
Therefore, the search for new cancer medications and alternative treatment options continues (Scarton et al., 2018). While the latter typically have a miniscule effect on patients’ well-being, they offer an opportunity to support a patient emotionally and provide a temporary relief from multiple side effects that cancer medication may cause, such as nausea and pain. Therefore, to provide patients with adequate care and offer the full extent of support when managing cancer, healthcare practitioners must incorporate cancer treatment alternatives into the therapy based on the unique needs of patients.
The inclusion of alternatives to medical treatment of cancer is typically viewed as unnecessary and even harmful by healthcare experts, which, in the absence of a proper, medication-based treatment framework is completely true. Indeed, even in the instance of terminal cancer, patients require cancer medication prescribed by an expert and used specifically to treat the symptoms and issues faced at the specified cancer development stage (Jurj et al., 2017).
However, the described mode of managing the needs of cancer patients does not negate the presence of several positive effects that alternative cancer treatment frameworks provide. While the standard approach toward managing cancer and the related needs of patients are typically focused on the physiological changes experienced as a result of the disease, the emotional well-being of a patient may be overlooked (Ozdemir, 2019). As a result, a patient may experience a massive drop in the extent of motivation and resilience, which, in turn, will aggravate the condition and reduce the patient’s chances for recovery or, at the very least, decent quality of life (Ozdemir, 2019). The emotional turmoil and the presence of pain that typically accompanies cancer at its later stages aggravate the patient’s condition particularly strongly (Jurj et al., 2017). Therefore, additional tools for managing the problem are required.
In turn, alternative treatment options, which are notorious for their lack of effect on the development of cancer, can be of significant help when addressing the issues associated with emotional health and the psychological well-being of a patient. Studies show that reliance on alternative treatment options for managing cancer, while not causing an improvement in the condition, leads to alleviating the emotional distress experienced by cancer patients (Thomaier et al., 2020). For instance, the paper by Scarton et al. (2018) indicates that the use of alternative treatment options allows improving patients;’ mental health significantly.
Specifically, the author states the following results regarding the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM): “Studies have suggested positive effects from the use of CAM in the management of the psychological and emotional impact of cancer” (Scarton et al., 2018, p. 87). Therefore, incorporating the specified options into the therapeutic framework may lead to a faster recovery. Specifically, without the emotional distress and the resulting mental health issues, a patient will follow the guidelines more accurately and lad a healthier lifestyle, which will have a positive effect on their overall health rate.
The proposed project will examine the effects of a combined therapy that incorporates regular cancer medication and therapy options and the alternative treatment opportunities that are expected to facilitate emotional relief, mitigation of the side effects of the main treatment strategy, and minimize pain experienced at the late stages of cancer development. Therefore, the project will touch upon both the cases in which recovery is possible and those that have progressed to the stage of palliative care. It is believed that the outcomes of this project will help to improve the quality of care for cancer patients significantly by addressing not only the physical nature of the disease but also the emotional factors that aggravate patients’ condition.
Research Objectives
This project seeks to address the issue of using alternative medicine for managing the emotional needs of patients with cancer, as well as alleviating the pain that they experience and the negative effects of the main treatment that they suffer. For this purpose, the effects of using alternative cancer treatment options along with the standard tools will be evaluated.
Methods
Study design
Since the study is aimed at comparing the established standard of tending to the needs of patients with cancer to the ones that involve alternative treatment options, there is the reason to quantify the study outcomes to determine whether there is noticeable variation in the treatment outcomes. Therefore, the quantitative research design will be utilized. Therefore, the positivist philosophy will be used as the basis for the research. In order to compare the two methods of managing patients’ needs properly, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be needed.
Study subjects
The research will target patients with cancer as the main target audience. Specifically, the research will be conducted in a local facility for treating cancer patients. The experimental design suggests that the target population should be divided into two main groups, namely, the control group, to which the standard treatment will be administered, and Group A, to which a combination of the regular medications and the proposed alternative treatment options will be offered. The sample size will consist of 150 patients; thus, the outcomes of the analysis will reflect the possibility of variation due to increased diversity rates among patients.
Additionally, the use of a larger sample will not allow obtaining homogenous results due to the lack of diversity within the groups. The research participants will be represented 73 male and 77 female patients, of whom the majority belongs to the African American population (48%). In turn, 27% of the target demographic are white, whereas 19% are Latin American. The remaining 6% include a variety of other ethnicities, such as Native American, Caribbean, and Asian American patients. Although the age range of the target population is quite varied, most belong to the age group of 31-65.
Experimental treatments
In the project under analysis, the alternative medications will represent the experimental treatment that patients in Group A will undergo as opposed to the patients in the control group, who will receive standard treatment. Specifically, the experimental treatment will include alternative medicine options such as acupuncture, chiropractic, and herbal medications. The suggested treatment options are believed to help patients in reducing pain caused by the development of cancer, as well as the experiences of nausea and the related unpleasant sensations that cancer or medications used to suppress cancer may cause.
Furthermore, the alternative treatment practices, particularly, chiropractic, are expected to help reduce the extent pf emotional tension and stress that cancer patients undergo (Yoodee et al., 2017). Thus, the overall health rate of the target population is expected to improve.
Data collection
To collect the data, the snowball sampling approach will be utilized. The suggested technique will help to ensure that the levels of homogeneity within the groups will be reduced, and that the obtained information will be applicable to a large number of patients and settings. The key data will be collected by comparing the changes in patients’ well-being., namely, the development of cancer and the experience of pain. While the former will require a comparison of imaging test results before and after the intervention, the latter will suggest using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) (Alghadir et al., 2018). Thus, detailed information about the extent of pain and the changes that the introduction of the supplementary treatment based on the alternative options provides will be obtained.
Evaluation and measurement of outcomes
To evaluate the effects of the proposed intervention and compare it to the traditional framework for treating cancer in adult patients, Student’s t-test will be required. The specified quantitative statistical tool will help to answer the question of whether the application of the proposed alternative method of managing the needs of cancer patients has any measurable effect on their well-being and the efficacy of addressing their needs.
Project Outcomes
It is believed that this project will help to improve the current approach toward addressing the needs of cancer patients to a significant extent. Namely, the comparison of the suggested treatment technique to the presently used one will allow reducing the extent of negative experiences that cancer patients face. Specifically, the therapy in question is believed to alleviate pain, as well as improve the emotional health of cancer patients to a significant degree. Thus, testing the proposed treatment method that involves a combination of the standard treatment with alternative one is crucial to meeting the needs of cancer patients.
Project Logistics
Project Budget
The project will require a total of $100,000 due to the need to obtain the necessary materials for collecting data (approximately $10,000), as well as recruiting experts for administering the necessary treatment (four experts, each being paid a salary of approximately $20,000. Additionally, extra costs for transportation and other services are expected.
Project Timeline
The project is expected to take place over six months. The preparation for the research will take approximately a month to collect and arrange the necessary resources and recruit participants and assistants, as well as design tests and the treatment process. Afterward, the study will be conducted for four months. Finally, the post-experiment assessment will be performed, measuring the extent of patients’ negative experiences and the disease progression, with the following presentation of results and explanation of key conclusions.
References
Alghadir, A. H., Anwer, S., Iqbal, A., & Iqbal, Z. A. (2018). Test–retest reliability, validity, and minimum detectable change of visual analog, numerical rating, and verbal rating scales for measurement of osteoarthritic knee pain. Journal of Pain Research, 11, 851-856. Web.
de Martel, C., Georges, D., Bray, F., Ferlay, J., & Clifford, G. M. (2020). Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018: A worldwide incidence analysis. The Lancet Global Health, 8(2), e180-e190. Web.
Jurj, A., Braicu, C., Pop, L. A., Tomuleasa, C., Gherman, C. D., & Berindan-Neagoe, I. (2017). The new era of nanotechnology, an alternative to change cancer treatment. Drug Design, Development and Therapy, 11, 2871. Web.
Ozdemir, A. (2019). Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods by cancer patients admitted to oncology polyclinic and evaluation of these methods for life quality. Annals of Medical Research, 26(4), 658-663. Web.
Scarton, L. A., Del Fiol, G., Oakley-Girvan, I., Gibson, B., Logan, R., & Workman, T. E. (2018). Understanding cancer survivors’ information needs and information-seeking behaviors for complementary and alternative medicine from short-to long-term survival: A mixed-methods study. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 106(1), 87-97. Web.
Thomaier, L., Teoh, D., Jewett, P., Beckwith, H., Parsons, H., Yuan, J.,… Vogel, R. I. (2020). Emotional health concerns of oncology physicians in the United States: Fallout during the COVID-19 pandemic. PloS One, 15(11). Web.
Yoodee, J., Permsuwan, U., & Nimworapan, M. (2017). Efficacy and safety of olanzapine for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, 112, 113-125. Web.