Self-acupressure and Zhan Zhuang for Symptom Cluster Management

NCT ID: NCT06497582

Last Updated: 2025-09-16

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 50 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-05-15
• Study Completion Date: 2024-10-20

Brief Summary

The proposed study will be a 3-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial on the effects of self-acupressure and Zhan-Zhuang for alleviating pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance in breast cancer survivors. Subjects will include 54 breast cancer survivors who have experienced a moderate level of pain, fatigue and sleep disturbance. All eligible subjects will be randomized into one of the three groups in a 1:1:1 ratio: Zhan Zhuang group, or self-acupressure group, or wait list control group. Subjects in the Zhan-Zhuang group will receive up to 8 weeks of the intervention consisting of a training course over two weeks followed by self-practice for 6 weeks. Those in the self-acupressure group will attend an acupressure training course for two weeks and then, will be asked to practice self-acupressure for 6 weeks. The wait list control group will be provided with delayed self-acupressure or Zhan Zhuang at the end of the study. Outcome assessment will be conducted at baseline, week 8 (post-intervention) and week 12 (4 week follow-up). Primary outcomes include pain, fatigue and sleep disturbance. Secondary outcomes include psychological distress and health-related quality of life. Qualitative data will be collected from selected participants who have received the intervention.

Conditions

Breast Cancer Female; Survivorship

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Zhan-zhuang group

The intervention will last 8 weeks and comprise the following

1) Two sessions of Zhan Zhuang training(2 hours per session/week, totally 4 hours) for 2 weeks. (2) self-practice of zhan-zhuang for 6 weeks (daily, at least 20 mins) at home after passing the evaluation by a Zhan-Zhuang master

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

zhan-zhuang

Intervention Type: OTHER

zhan-zhuang as a fundamental type of qigong

Self-acupressure group

The intervention will last 8 weeks and comprise the following

1) Two sessions of self-acupressure training (2 hours per session/week, totally 4 hours) for 2 weeks. (2) self-practice of acupressure for 6 weeks (daily, around 20 mins) at home after passing the evaluation by a licensed traditional Chinese medicine doctor.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

self-acupressure

Intervention Type: OTHER

Self-acupressure as a common type of traditional Chinese medicine therapies

Waitlist control group

Usual care only

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

zhan-zhuang

zhan-zhuang as a fundamental type of qigong

Intervention Type: OTHER

self-acupressure

Self-acupressure as a common type of traditional Chinese medicine therapies

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• a female adult aged 18 and older;
• a diagnosis of early-stage (Stage I, II, or III) breast cancer;
• completion of surgery, and/or chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy;
• have at least a moderate level of pain, fatigue and sleep disturbance as measured on 0-10 numerical rating scales, with a score of ≥ 3 for each symptom during the past one month;
• willing to use WhatsApp messenger for follow-ups;
• being able to communicate in Chinese

Exclusion Criteria

• prior use of acupuncture, acupressure, Zhan Zhuang, or other types of Zhan Zhuang within the past three months;
• currently receiving progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and other body mind exercise (e.g. yoga) for the treatment of pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance;
• mentally incapable of participating in the study as indicated by the Hong Kong version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment score;
• inability to perform self-care as indicated by the Karnofsky Performance Scale score<70

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 70 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (posters, Facebook, WhatsApp groups etc.)

Hong Kong, , China

Countries

China

Other Identifiers

04

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id