Research Areas

With cancer care, symptom management and post-operative rehabilitation as its three core themes, the Center advances patient-centred research on non-pharmaceutical, non-invasive interventions, extending into health promotion and disease prevention. Our study designs are closely tied to clinical needs and start from the difficulties patients face, building care models that are low in side effects, sustainable and culturally sensitive.

• Reflexology: stimulating reflex zones to regulate autonomic nervous function.
• Resonance breathing: helping patients manage anxiety and stress responses.
• Exercise and nutrition: addressing the sarcopenia and frailty common among cancer patients.
• Cognitive behavioural therapy: helping patients build positive ways of coping with illness.
• Biofeedback: using visualised physiological signals to help patients rebuild bodily control.
• Auricular vagus nerve stimulation and aromatherapy.

Focusing on the period of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) and recovery after treatment, we examine the long-term effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on radiation-related mucositis, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing, impaired shoulder and neck function, cancer-related fatigue, and treatment-related anxiety and depression, building a complete care model that extends from acute-phase intervention to post-treatment follow-up.

In collaboration with the laboratory of Prof. Jeng-Woei Lee in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, we track changes in autonomic function (heart rate variability, HRV), stress markers such as salivary cortisol, and inflammatory markers, extending our research from clinical observation to physiological and biochemical mechanisms.

• Outpatient clinics: developing efficient, short interventions, such as 15- to 30-minute condensed reflexology or brief breathing training, with standardised operating procedures.
• Inpatient wards: recruiting participants in partnership with the medical and surgical clinics and wards of Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital.
• Community and home: developing simplified techniques that family members can use, and collecting long-term data through home visits, telephone follow-up and remote intervention to create a continuous model of care research.

For people with sub-optimal health, older adults and high-risk groups, we design interventions that combine exercise prescriptions with resonance breathing practice to improve sleep quality and reduce stress responses, with long-term follow-up carried out at the family and community level in partnership with community care and long-term care facilities.

We connect an interdisciplinary team of nurse practitioners, physicians, psychologists, physical therapists and dietitians, and work with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Taiwan Association of Nurse Practitioner Educators, the Taiwan Holistic Family Nursing Association and international experts to train nurse practitioners and graduate students in developing and applying non-pharmaceutical care.

Building on the findings of the first two years, we will develop models that predict treatment response, advance personalised care, and establish standardised clinical pathways and demonstration models for inpatient, outpatient and community settings.