Integrating Swedish massage therapy with primary health care initiatives as part of a holistic nursing approach

SummaryNursing has long embraced a holistic approach to health care. Providing such an approach is also a goal embodied within many complementary therapy (CT) practices, such as Swedish massage therapy (SMT). Primary health care (PHC) reform initiatives as well often support a holistic approach to patient/client management. Presently, amongst the practices of nursing, a potential synergy between CTs and PHC domains has not as yet been adequately explored within the humanities and social/scientific literature. The purpose of this review is to address the potential of such a collaboration, as made feasible by incorporating an integrative medicine approach to enhance comprehensiveness of care, and in turn, holistic nursing.