Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 151
To identify client and practitioner perceptions of the experience and effects of shiatsu.
An exploratory, interview-based study, funded by the European Shiatsu Federation, was undertaken with a purposive sample of practitioners and their clients in the UK and Germany. Fourteen experienced practitioners and 16 clients were interviewed. To enhance generalisability, a focus group workshop was held in each country with further practitioners. The interviews covered issues including perceptions of shiatsu’s effects, clients’ experiences of shiatsu and practitioners’ views of factors that enhanced or inhibited successful treatment. Data were analysed using grounded theory, assisted by N-Vivo computer software.
Informants described a wide range of positive effects, some immediate (relaxation, symptomatic relief, increased mobility, ‘normalising’) and others longer-term (effective treatment, posture, self-awareness, emotional impact, personal development). A category of ‘transitional effects’ emerged – immediate, short-lived effects that the client was not seeking, that were not positive (although not necessarily negative). Practitioners linked these to the notion of the healing process. Client reports of negative effects were rare; practitioners’ views of negative impacts varied from ‘none’ to examples of particular negative effects and conditions under which they could be avoided or might occur.
The study reinforces the importance of exploring the views of clients and practitioners, and indicates the range of experience and effects associated with shiatsu. These findings are of value in their own right and can serve as the basis of further, wider-scale research.
