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- Title
INTERACTIVE GUIDED IMAGERY therapy with medical patients: predictors of health outcomes.
- Authors
Scherwitz LW; McHenry P; Herrero R
- Abstract
Objectives: To assess whether Interactive Guided Imagery(SM) (IGI) is helpful to medical patients and to identify factors that contribute to positive outcomes. Design: A prospective cohort study of 323 medical patients who received 6 IGI sessions on a weekly basis. Patients and practitioners completed questionnaires at the beginning, middle, and end of the 6 IGI sessions. The questionnaires assessed the patients' ability to do IGI, the quality of the practitioner-patient interaction, possible confounding variables, and enabling factors. The hypothesis was that measures of the process of doing IGI and the practitioner-patient relationship would predict outcomes. Subjects/setting: The subjects were all patients seeking treatment at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, and Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, CA. Intervention: Using IGI interactively is a cognitive-behavioral intervention designed to help patients relax by using mental images to discover and cultivate healing intentions, and to reflect on the meaning of these images. Measures: The individual measures to assess the patients' ability to do IGI and measures of the practitioner-patient relationship were factor-analyzed to use as predictor variables in a multiple regression. Similarly, the questionnaire items measuring cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual benefits of IGI were factoranalyzed into factors representing 'insight' and 'all other' benefits. Results: The multiple regression shows that both process and practitioner-patient interaction factors significantly contributed to a combined 40% of the variance in patients' ratings of insight into the nature of their problem and to becoming aware of an aspect of self, F(4,56) = 9.4, p < 0.005. The same process and interaction factors were less strongly related to the other outcomes, r (2) = 0.14, F(4,56) = 2.3, p = 0.06. None of the demographic, confounding, or enabling factors was related to the outcome measures. Conclusions: The process of doing IGI and the relationship with the practitioner were both independently associated with the patients' insight into their health problems.
- Publication
Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, 2005, Vol 11, Issue 1, p69
- ISSN
1075-5535
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1089/acm.2005.11.69