An explorative study of a complementary therapy method : Rosen Method Bodywork : user's reasons for therapy utilization, experienced benefits and existence of caring in the treatment interaction

The utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies is increasing and the users frequently report satisfaction and benefits from the treatments although scientific support for these self-reported experienced benefits are largely lacking. This thesis analyses users' experiences of Rosen Method Bodywork (RMB), a relatively unevaluated touch based CAM therapy method. The theory behind RMB suggests that bodily problems such as muscle tension are partly due to unresolved emotional problems or suppressed traumatic experiences. The treatment includes gentle touching on tense muscles with the purpose to detect and make the client aware of the tenseness.

This project consists of two related studies and is innovative in studying a CAM therapy method from a nursing theoretical perspective. The study design is qualitative, exploratory and descriptive. The overall aim is to contribute to the understanding of possible health promoting aspects of RMB. The specific aims are; to describe why clients consult RMB, and what kind of benefits they perceive (study I), and; to explore if caring is a part of the interpersonal interaction in the treatments by analysing RMB clients experiences from a nursing theoretical framework (study II). The data was collected from a survey of 53 conveniently sampled Swedish RMB clients (study I) and through semi-structured interviews with 11 clients with both positive and negative experiences from RMB (study II). The data were analysed by content analysis and descriptive statistics in study I and the interviews were content analysed by using a nursing theory, the SAUC Care Model, as the theoretical framework for the analysis.

The results show that RMB is consulted for three main reasons; that the experienced benefits include psychological and physiological health improvements but also a new awareness about the body, personal growth, and self-initiated life changes. The results also indicate that treatments where participants reported satisfaction seem to include supportive caring as an integrated part in the interpersonal interaction. In contrast, the participants who were dissatisfied with the treatment described opposite experiences including lack of proper caring and failure to meet the client`s needs. This findings add to previous knowledge, in showing that caring is an integrated and essential contextual component in RMB treatments. Based on the results a theoretical model of the components that might contribute to treatment satisfaction and experienced benefits is discussed. However, it is important to note the study limitations and that these qualitative studies were not designed to inform any conclusions about the efficacy of RMB.

List of scientific papers

I. Hoffrén-Larsson, R., Gustafsson, B., and Falkenberg, T. (2009). Rosen Method Bodywork – An Explorative Study of an Uncharted Complementary Therapy. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 15. 9:995-1000.
https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2008.0489

II. Hoffrén-Larsson, R., Löwstedt, J., Mattiasson, A-C., and Falkenberg, T. Caring as an essential component in Rosen Method Bodywork - Clients ́ experiences of interpersonal interaction from a nursing theoretical perspective. European Journal of Integrative Medicine. [Accepted]
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eujim.2013.07.006