Integrated Cancer Care: Holistic, Complementary, and Creative Approches

Front Cover
Jennifer Barraclough
Oxford University Press, 2001 - Medical - 292 pages
"Complementary" therapies such as acupuncture, aromatherapy and spiritual healing are now being offered within many oncology and palliative care settings. Benefits of improved symptom control, quality of life and patient satisfaction have been demonstrated, but various questions remain. Isfurther integration with mainstream medicine desirable? What are the priorities for service provision and research? Are the specific techniques as important as their shared "holistic" context? Can they have significant unwanted effects? And besides making patients feel better, can they help toimprove survival from cancer? Such questions are considered in this book. Jennifer Barraclough, former director of psycho-oncology at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, has assembled specialist contributions from oncology and palliative care, complementary therapy, general practice, healthcare planning and research. Academic reviews are balanced by personal accounts frompatients. The book is relevant to all stages of the "cancer journey" and includes a chapter on childhood cancer. This overview of a controversial and evolving field will interest those with professional or personal involvement in oncology or palliative care.

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Contents

general principles
18
Casting off the spell
31
Researching complementary therapies in cancer care
40
Copyright

21 other sections not shown

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About the author (2001)

Jennifer Barraclough, formerly Consultant in Psychological Medicine, Psycho-oncology Service, Sobell House, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK

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