Trial reportThe journal of nursing research : JNR2026
Application of Affective Touch in Patients With Advanced Cancer: Effects on Existential Distress, Pain, and Quality of Life.
Trial report in The journal of nursing research : JNR, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Telemedicine and Virtual Reality Technologies in Pain Management for Cancer Patients: A Structured Narrative Review.Current treatment options in oncology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPatients with advanced cancer generally experience adverse physical and mental burdens. As a nondrug approach, affective touch provides support for oncology nurses in helping patients with advanced cancer overcome these burdens. PURPOSE: This study was designed to implement an affective touch intervention for patients with advanced cancer to explore its effects on existential distress, pain, and quality of life in this vulnerable patient population.
methodsIn this randomized controlled trial, 83 patients with advanced cancer were allocated randomly to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group received the affective touch intervention once a day for 2 weeks. General data were collected from all of the participants before the intervention. Existential Distress Scale and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General scores were collected both before and 2 weeks after the intervention. Average pain levels on the Brief Pain Inventory were collected before and at weeks 1 and 2 of the intervention. Current pain levels were collected daily after the intervention.
resultsAfter completing the 2-week intervention, the total scores for the control and experimental groups were, respectively, 8.15 ± 2.23 and 6.60 ± 2.75 (p < .05) for existential distress and 50.24 ± 12.35 and 57.24 ± 14.26 (<.001) for quality of life, showing a significant improvement effect for the intervention. Affective touch was shown to have an immediate ameliorative effect on pain after the daily intervention but was not shown to be significantly effective in providing long-term pain relief at either 1 or 2 weeks after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Affective touch, as a simple, noninvasive, and cost-effective approach implemented alongside routine nursing care, may improve existential distress, immediate pain, and quality of life in patients with advanced cancer. The affective touch intervention is worth promoting and applying in clinical settings. Further efforts by senior practice nurses are needed to incorporate this intervention into medical oncology practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.