Qualitative study of cancer patients' experiences with and reasons for intensively pursuing qigong, a Chinese meditative exercise therapy

Qualitative study of cancer patients^ experiences with and reasons for intensively pursuing qigong, a Chinese meditative exercise therapy
Conboy L 1//Junghans L//Rones R//Kerr C 1
Osher Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA [1]
Background: While previous studies have used survey research to investigate cancer patients’ experiences with and reasons for pursuing complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies (provoking a debate in the literature about whether cancer patients seeking CAM therapies are driven by pre-existing distress and anxiety about their disease), to data, there have been very few in-depth qualitative studies assessing cancer patient motivations and experiences related to intensive pursuit of a CAM therapy.
Methods This study uses a qualitative methodology to assess patients' motivations and experiences with qigong, a Chinese meditative exercise therapy. 8 cancer patients at various stages of treatment(1 at a preliminary stage of 'watchful waiting,' 2 undergoing treatment for primary cancer, 2 with metastasized cancer, 3 at an unspecified or other stage) who participate in one-on-one self-healing qigong lessons with a qigong teacher in the community, were interviewed concerning their experiences with self-healing Qigong, a Chinese meditative exercise therapy which includes slow motion movement, meditative visualizations and gentle resistance exercises. In particular we were interested in subjects' motivations for pursuing such a time-consuming practice (many of the subjects report practice times of over 1 hour per day. Several subjects have engaged in the practice for more than 3 years). We were also interested in changes that subjects may attribute to their pursuit of the practice.

Results: Subjects reported that the practice of Qigong helped them deal with specific quality of life issues, such as pain or fatigue, that have arisen around their cancer diagnosis and treatment. They reported that the practice had improved their quality of life; specifically, subjects reported improvements in physical and mental functioning, the quality of their interpersonal relationships, and their sense of control over their disease. Such subjective changes are discussed in the context of their relationship to physiological changes and health outcomes more generally.