Tactile massage or healing touch: Caring touch for patients in emergency care - A qualitative study

AimThis study aimed to explore the patient's lived experience of receiving caring touch after sustaining an acute illness or disease while being cared for in a short-term emergency ward.BackgroundAdmissions to short-term emergency ward for an acute illness or disease is often associated with increased stress, anxiety and pain. The caring touch in focus in this study is tactile massage and healing touch. A complementary treatment of tactile massage or healing touch was offered to patients to complement their routine nursing care.MethodsThis study has a qualitative interpretive design that explored two complementary approaches.Twenty-five patients (16 women and 9 men) admitted to the short-term emergency ward for acute conditions agreed to participate in the study and were individually interviewed. Data were collected from between January and May 2011. Data was analysed using a phenomenological-hermeneutical method.ResultsThe patients' lived experience indicated that caring touch resulted in an existential togetherness characterised by a nonverbal peacefulness, trust, consolation, safety, and a restoration of what it means to be a being human. However, some patients also expressed ambivalence towards caring touch. There also seemed to be a fine line between feelings of intimacy, sensuality, and sexuality, especially among the male patients.ConclusionIn the presence of an acute illness or disease, caring touch may provide trust and consolation for the patient's body and soul which may help to restore his or her integrity. The complexity of intimacy is an aspect that needs further study.