Caring as an essential component in Rosen Method Bodywork - Clients' experiences of interpersonal interaction from a nursing theoretical perspective

Introduction: Users of complementary (CAM) therapies frequently report satisfaction although scientific support for the efficacy of many therapies is lacking. This study investigates a relatively unexplored CAM therapy; Rosen Method Bodywork (RMB) from a new perspective. The treatment includes gentle physical touching of tense muscles as well as - the interpersonal interaction. The aim was to explore if caring is a part of the interpersonal interaction in RMB treatments by analyzing clients' experiences from a nursing theoretical framework. Methods: The study design is exploratory and qualitative. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews with eleven RMB clients with positive and negative experiences from the treatments. The interviews were content analyzed using the theoretical stages in a nursing theory to build the structure for categorizing the data. Results: Treatments where study participants declared satisfaction included supportive caring aspects. In these cases, trusted interpersonal relations and a secure environment were established, where the participants felt accepted regardless of their problems. The interpersonal interaction seems to contribute to participants' increased awareness of their own capacities and motivation to independently develop new ways to manage health-related problems. In contrast, participants who were dissatisfied with RMB described opposite experiences. This seems to result in termination of the therapy or a change of therapist. Conclusions: The results indicate that caring is an essential contextual component in RMB treatments. In future research, not only for RMB, but for similar CAM therapies, more attention should be paid to caring as an important part of the interpersonal interaction and the therapeutic experience. This article belongs to the Special Issue: 'IG000020'. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.