Describing the emotional change experienced by patients with chronic somatic diseases who took part in a supportive program with complementary therapies: a qualitative study

Quantitative studies have suggested that complementary therapies (including mind-body and art therapies) are relevant to support patients with chronic somatic diseases. The “Health Promotion Education” department of Nantes University Hospital created in 2012 an association entitled “Creative Health Factory” ( Fabrique Créative de Santé ) to provide psychosocial support for patients with chronic somatic diseases. Patients with chronic somatic diseases could attend free art and mind-body therapies. This research aims at qualitatively describing the emotional change experienced by patients with chronic somatic diseases who took part in a supportive program dealing with complementary therapies. Patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases were invited to take part in research studying the effects of art and mind-body therapies on emotion at Nantes University Hospital. They chose two therapeutic workshops to address the psychological and physical effects of complementary therapies: An art therapy workshop and a mind-body therapeutic workshop. On the 134 patients who attended the therapeutic workshops, 112 were interviewed six months after the first session, using non directive interviews. A reflexive thematic analysis was performed on the dataset to describe the emotional change experienced by the patients following the therapeutic workshops using Sphinx Quali Software. Three themes were created, reflecting change in “Self-awareness and acceptance”, a “Better emotional regulation” and “More self-regard and self-care” towards themselves. Despite limitations, the results of this qualitative study suggest that art and mind-body therapies could have favored the development of patients’ emotional skills and by extension the management of the emotional impact of the chronic somatic disease diagnosis. Training to develop emotional skills in patients with chronic somatic diseases could help them to manage the emotional impact of diagnosis. The protocol is registered on Clinical Trials (NCT02911207 ; registration date: September 20, 2016).