Mental health impact of massage and massage therapy for survivors of domestic and family violence and/or sexual abuse: a scoping review

Background: Sexual abuse (SA) and domestic and family violence (DFV) are a worldwide issue with high incidence rates. While massage therapists are not generally frontline responders, they may see individuals presenting with the lifelong sequelae of DFV/SA. Purpose: The aim of this scoping review is to characterize the nature, scope, quality, and potential reach of publications within the massage therapy and research fields that focus on massage and massage therapy treatment for those who have or are currently experiencing DFV and/or SA. Additional objectives for this review are the intent to compile a summary of practice-and evidence-based recommendations and completion of an appraisal of included publications. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O’Malley’s six-step scoping review framework and the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The electronic databases PubMed, ProQuest, CENTRAL, CINHAL, Web of Science, and MEDLINE as well as Google Scholar were searched to identify publications. Summaries of the publications were undertaken as the included publications did not yield enough rich qualitative data to undertake a thematic analysis. Results: Twenty-six publications were included from five countries with the most papers coming from the United States. The review demonstrated multiple psychological benefits of massage with the majority of publications presenting mental health improvements as the predominant impact of massage therapy on individuals who had experienced DFV/SA; however, the majority of the interventional benefits came from SA research. Conclusion: The review highlighted a void in the interventional research on massage and DFV with no interventional study focusing on DFV and massage solely despite anecdotal evidence of benefit. There was also a lack of evidence of impact of massage in clinical practice for individuals with any history of DFV/SA. There is potential that massage therapy may be a useful tool in aiding survivors’ recovery, if administered by trained individuals.