This study aims to describe and analyze healthy individuals’ expressed experiences of touch massage (TM). Fifteen healthy participants received whole body touch massage during 60 minutes for two separate occasions. Interviews were analyzed by narrative analysis. Four identifiable storyline was found, Touch massage as an essential need, in this storyline the participants talked about a desire and need for human touch and TM. Another storyline was about, Touch massage as a pleasurable experience and the participants talked about the pleasure of having had TM. In the third storyline Touch massage as a dynamic experience, the informants talked about things that could modulate the experience of receiving TM. In the last storyline, Touch massage influences self-awareness, the participants described how TM affected some of their psychological and physical experiences. Experiences of touch massage was in general described as pleasant sensations and the different storylines could be seen in the light of rewarding experiences.
BergstenU.PeterssonI.F.ArvidssonB. (2005). Perception of tactile massage as a complement to other forms of pain relief in rheumatic disease. Musculoskeletal Care, 3, 157-167.
2.
BerridgeK.C. (2012). From prediction error to incentive salience: Mesolimbic computation of reward motivation. European Journal of Neuroscience, 35, 1124-1143.
3.
BerridgeK.C.KringelbachM.L. (2008). Affective neuroscience of pleasure: Reward in humans and animals. Psychopharmacology, 199, 457-480.
4.
BerridgeK.C.KringelbachM.L. (2011). Building a neuroscience of pleasure and well-being. Psychology of Well-Being, 1, 1-3.
5.
BillhultA.MaattaS. (2009). Light pressure massage for patients with severe anxiety. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 15, 96-101.
6.
BillhultA.Stener-VictorinE.BergbomI. (2007). The experience of massage during chemotherapy treatment in breast cancer patients. Clinical Nursing Research, 16, 85-99.
7.
ConnorA.HowettM. (2009). A conceptual model of intentional comfort touch. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 27, 127-135.
8.
CronfalkB.S.StrangP.TernestedtB.M. (2009). Inner power, physical strength and existential well-being in daily life: Relatives’ experiences of receiving soft tissue massage in palliative home care. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18, 2225-2233.
9.
DavidsonR.J.McEwenB.S. (2012). Social influences on neuroplasticity: Stress and interventions to promote well-being. Nature Neuroscience, 15, 689-695.
10.
EisenbergerN.I.ColeS.W. (2012). Social neuroscience and health: Neurophysiological mechanisms linking social ties with physical health. Nature Neuroscience, 15, 669-674.
11.
FalkensteinerM.MantovanF.MullerI.ThemC. (2011). The use of massage therapy for reducing pain, anxiety, and depression in oncological palliative care patients: A narrative review of the literature. ISRN Nursing, 2011, 929868.
12.
FieldT.DiegoM.A.Hernandez-ReifM.DeedsO.FiguereidoB. (2006). Moderate versus light pressure massage therapy leads to greater weight gain in preterm infants. Infant Behavior & Development, 29, 574-578.
13.
Finfgeld-ConnettD. (2008). Meta-synthesis of caring in nursing. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17, 196-204.
14.
GallaceA.SpenceC. (2010). The science of interpersonal touch: an overview. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 34, 246-259.
15.
GraneheimU.H.LundmanB. (2004). Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: Concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today, 24, 105-112.
16.
HenricsonM.SegestenK.BerglundA.L.MaattaS. (2009). Enjoying tactile touch and gaining hope when being cared for in intensive care: A phenomenological hermeneutical study. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 25, 323-331.
17.
KringelbachM.L.BerridgeK.C. (2009). Towards a functional neuroanatomy of pleasure and happiness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 479-487.
18.
KvaleS.TorhellS.E. (1997). Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun [Qualitative literature]. Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur.
19.
LämåsK.GraneheimU. H.JacobssonC. (2012). Experiences of abdominal massage for constipation. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21, 757-765.
20.
LeknesS.LeeM.BernaC.AnderssonJ.TraceyI. (2011). Relief as a reward: Hedonic and neural responses to safety from pain. PLoS One, 6, e17870.
21.
LeknesS.TraceyI. (2008). A common neurobiology for pain and pleasure. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 9, 314-320.
22.
LindgrenL. (2012). Pleasant human touch is represented in pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. Neuroimage, 59, 3427-3432.
23.
MazzeoC.A. (2008). Nurturing the mind/body connection: A phenomenological analysis of emotional release in massage therapy. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest.
24.
PolkinghorneD.E. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Albany: State University of New York Press.
25.
PolkinghorneD.E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis.In HatchJ.A.WisniewskiR. (Eds.), Life history and narrative (pp. 5-23). London, England: Palmer Press.
26.
RollsE.T. (2005). Emotion explained. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
27.
SuzukiM.TatsumiA.OtsukaT.KikuchiK.MizutaA.MakinoK.. . . SaruharaT. (2010). Physical and psychological effects of 6-week tactile massage on elderly patients with severe dementia. American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias, 25, 680-686.
