Non-Pharmacological and Complementary Therapies for Chronic Illness: New Advances in Nursing
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Care Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 147
Special Issue Editor
Interests: chronic illness; oncology nursing; health-promoting; nursing education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Despite the continuous and growing improvements in treatments and therapies, chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer have been and continue to be some of the major causes of worldwide morbidity and mortality. In recent years, non-pharmacological and complementary therapies have attracted much attention in healthcare. They are science-based and non-invasive interventions for human health. They aim to prevent, treat, or cure health problems. Non-pharmacological and complementary therapies consist of products, methods, programs or services whose contents are known by users. They are linked to biological and/or psychological processes identified in clinical studies. Non-pharmacological and complementary therapies have a measurable impact on health, quality of life, and behavioural and socioeconomic markers. Their implementation requires relational, communicational and ethical skills.
Paralleling this increase, nurses have been growing interested in incorporating these strategies into patient care. However, this topic is complex to discuss. A uniformly accepted definition or classification of non-drug methods used in health care does not exist. These methods are also linked to a variety of terms, such as non-invasive, nonpharmacologic, complementary, and alternative methods. Although these terms may be used interchangeably, they may also be defined differently in the literature. Consequently, it is difficult to identify the scope of any discussion on non-drug methods. It is even more controversial and complicated to define nurses' role, responsibilities and attitudes on this topic. Further evidence is needed and applicable.
Dr. Federica Dellafiore
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- non-pharmacological therapies
- complementary therapies
- chronic illness
- nursing
- role and responsibilities of nurses
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