Touch, Caring and Cancer: Simple Instruction for Family and Friends

CE/CME Credit Available: None
Cost: Free

Course description:

One of the most comforting forms of support you can offer a loved one with cancer is the use of touch. This inspiring and authoritative course provides detailed instruction by leading experts in the field of oncology massage in safe and simple techniques anyone can learn and apply. Developed with funding by the National Cancer Institute, the course follows eleven cancer patients and their caregivers through a workshop as they learn and practice simple touch and massage techniques together. Viewers can gain new confidence and satisfaction in caring for their loved one.

This program consists of instructional video content plus a downloadable manual (PDF) in each language for review offline. A PDF download of Frequently Asked Questions (English) is also provided.

Length of Session: 78 minutes

Preview:

Lessons:

• Introduction
• Safety Precautions
• The Precautions Checklist
• Preparation
• Setting the Scene
• Positioning on home furniture
• Communication
• Frame of Mind
• Centering
• The Head and Face
• The Neck
• Shoulders and Back
• The Hands
• The Feet
• Acupressure
• Closing Thoughts

Languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese.

Research about the program:

The Touch, Caring and Cancer program is listed on the National Cancer Institute’s RTIPS website as a research-tested program. To see research about the program see the reference below.

Collinge W, Kahn J, Walton T, Kozak L, Bauer-Wu S, Fletcher K, Yarnold P, Soltysik R. Touch, Caring, and Cancer: randomized controlled trial of a multimedia caregiver education program. Supportive Care in Cancer. 2013 May;21(5):1405-14.

Faculty:

William Collinge, PhD, MPH is Associate Director of the Integrative Palliative Care Institute and directed the NCI-funded research on development and evaluation of the Touch, Caring and Cancer program. He is a practitioner in behavioral medicine and Principal Investigator of other NIH-sponsored projects in complementary therapies and palliative care.

Janet Kahn, PhD, NCTMB is Research Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine, and a clinician at the University of Vermont Medical Center’s Comprehensive Pain Program. She is a massage therapist and was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health.

Tracy Walton, MS, LMT, leads professional trainings in oncology massage nationally. She was Co-Investigator on a National Cancer Institute-sponsored study of caregiver training and the effects of massage in metastatic cancer patients at the Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, and is a practicing massage therapist.

David Rosenthal, MD is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, on the staff of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and was first Director of its Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies. He is also and CEO of Harvard University Health Services, and a former president of the American Cancer Society and of the Society for Integrative Oncology.

Susan Bauer-Wu, PhD, RN is President of Mind & Life Institute, and formerly a Professor of Nursing at the University of Virginia and Emory University in Atlanta. Previously she was Director of The Cantor Center for Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.