Characteristics of Massage Therapy Provision in Palliative Care: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND

Massage therapy (MT) is an emergent health care discipline increasingly recognized and recommended as an effective non-pharmacological and holistic intervention for pain relief and well-being promotion for palliative patients. However, it is not clear how it is being operationalized in palliative care (PC) settings.

OBJECTIVES

To identify and describe the available evidence on the characteristics of massage service provision in specialist PC settings.

METHODS

A scoping review applying the Johanna Briggs Institute methodology was conducted, informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Searches of five electronic databases (Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and AMED) were undertaken, limited to studies in English published between 2013 and November 2024, with the addition of searches of PC websites for gray literature. Major search terms related to the concept of MT for participants receiving PC in the context of PC settings (hospice, hospital, or community-based). The Donabedian framework was employed to categorize the extracted data, and a deductive approach was applied to the results.

RESULTS

Our review identified 25 published studies of diverse designs and 6 gray literature reports and policy documents addressing the review objectives. Major findings confirmed increasing recognition of the value of MT for palliative patients and revealed the prevalence of professional, trained massage therapists as providers in established programs. Evidence of a widening scope of practice and participation of massage therapists in interdisciplinary models of care was significant; however, barriers to MT integration, such as governance issues and poor health professional knowledge, were identified.

CONCLUSION

This review described a reconceptualization of MT and its role in PC, with implications for future employment, education, and training of therapists. Further research is needed to develop implementation and integration models to facilitate access to MT in PC settings.