Özet:

Numerous reasons such as increased life expectancy of individuals diagnosed with cancer and aggressive treatments provided in the last periods of life have increased the requirement of palliative care. Because the priority of palliative care is to effectively eliminate the complaints discomforting the patient rather than futile treatments, tests, and examination. Pain, one of these complaints, is the one, which cancer patients are mostly afraid of, and the most common cause to apply for palliative care programs. The complex structure of the pain requires mainly patient centred integrative biopsychosocial care including biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors of the individual. Today, even though studies on cancer patients constituting a major part of palliative care patients revealed that pain can be treated substantially with convenient approach, unfortunately several patients yet have been experiencing pain due to insufficient treatment. Therefore, integrative methods are also frequently applied for solution of this problem as well as medical treatment.  Integrative practices take the situation of the individual as a whole, and by considering the modern western medicine and complementary practices together, they offer comprehensive treatment options. This paper will discuss some integrative approaches applied for management of cancer pain.

Anahtar Kelimeler: