Effectiveness of Acupressure Therapy against Constipation and comfort Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy: Systematic Review

Abstract

The complex state of cancer causes sufferers to face a variety of clinical symptoms, both physically and psychologically, dramatically affecting the Patient's daily life. Chemotherapy treatment or therapy undertaken by cancer patients has severe side effects. Some side effects, such as headache, myalgia, hypotension, urinary retention, and constipation, can cause discomfort in cancer patients. Therefore, complementary acupressure therapy is needed to reduce the symptoms of constipation and pain caused by the symptoms. This study aims to find evidence based on the effectiveness of acupressure therapy for constipation and the comfort of cancer patients undergoing Chemotherapy. The study method uses the eight stages in this review: identifying nursing problems, prioritizing problems and research questions, primary and secondary data frameworks, identifying relevant studies, prism flow diagrams, critical appraisal, data analysis, and data extraction. This review uses five databases with a period of 2013-2022. The search results for the total number of articles obtained were 1,241, and ten were selected for review. Several reports comparing constipation symptoms and comfort levels in the acupressure therapy group and without acupressure therapy showed that acupressure therapy is an effective nonpharmacological therapy to reduce constipation symptoms and discomfort in cancer patients undergoing Chemotherapy. Based on reviews of acupressure therapy's effectiveness in lowering constipation symptoms and distress in cancer patients, more high-quality evidence is needed to determine whether acupressure is more effective than other treatments.