Efeitos das práticas integrativas e complementares em saúde em pacientes infanto-juvenis com câncer

Cancer in infant and juvenile patients demands the experience of harmful situations to their well-being in physical, psychological, and social matters during and after the cancer treatment. Complementary Therapies (CT) can be a method to fight the side effects of cancer therapy, improving the quality of life of these patients. This study aimed to examine the currently available evidence about CT's effects in infant and juvenile patients with cancer. This research is an integrative review of literature conducted on January 2021 by searching in the BDENF, CINAHL, LILACS, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The review included ten papers, whose analysis raised the following categories: physical effects, psychologic and spiritual effects and, nonspecific effects. The CT effects identified were achieved thanks to the use of Reiki, Therapeutic Massage, Meditation, Chiropractic/Osteopathy, Herbalism, Apitherapy, Music Therapy, Homeopathy, and Visualization. The results showed that CT in infant and juvenile patients with cancer is an important ally to promote physical and mental health since some effects revealed by the studies were the reduction of pain and side effects of the treatment, promotion of relaxation, increased resilience, promotion of family bond, and promotion of faith and hope. Infant and juvenile patients have several CT to use and its effects can benefit them integrally. It was observed that these therapies can help to deal with the challenges found in this fragile moment of the patient’s life. In addition, it can improve the survival odds of cancer and preserve the patient’s physical and psychological condition. However, further studies are still needed to explore CT’s efficacy based on the use of scientific methods to increase the reliability of the founded results.