Arts in Medicine for the Reduction of Pain and Stress in Cancer Patients During Chemotherapy.

CONTEXT: Rates of pain and stress are found in greater numbers in cancer patients than in the general population. Cancer patients often are concerned about unwanted side effects that can arise from taking medications to lower their pain and stress. As doctors are reaching for evidence-based, nonpharmaceutical, adjunct modalities, previous research indicates that visual art-making shows promise to help improve perceptions of pain and stress caused by a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

OBJECTIVES

This mixed-methods pilot study was conducted at the Orlando Health Cancer Institute and included 54 participants to determine whether a 90-minute watercolor visual arts intervention was a viable option to reduce perceptions of pain and stress in adult cancer patients with mild to moderate pain and stress during outpatient chemotherapy sessions.

METHODS

Paired T-Tests were conducted to determine the effect of the bedside visual arts intervention by comparing differences between pre- and postratings of self-reported pain and stress.

RESULTS

The results indicated a significant decrease from pre- to postratings for both perceived pain and stress that corresponded with large effect sizes.

CONCLUSION

This suggests that a watercolor visual arts intervention is a viable and feasible nonpharmaceutical complementary alternative to opioid prescriptions for pain management.