1. Palliative care patients may benefit from biofield (energy) therapies: A systematic review
Angela Rao (RN) Honours student,1 Dr Louise Hickman, 1 Professor David Sibbritt 1 and Professor Jane Phillips 1, 2
1University of Technology Sydney, 2 The University of Notre Dame, Australia.
NB: Inclusion criteria: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on human subjects measuring anxiety, well-being, relaxation, energy levels, depression, quality of life, agitation and fatigue published in peer reviewed journals.
Figure 1: Search strategy
BACKGROUND
Biofield therapies are based on a philosophy that acknowledges one’s energetic and spiritual nature as inherent in the healing process, and are designed to be used as an adjunct to conventional medical care [2]. Reiki, Therapeutic Touch (TT) and Healing Touch (HT) are three biofield therapies that are used widely in the U.S.A and the U.K in both acute and outpatient settings, including the palliative care setting [1].
These therapies have been shown to have positive effects on pain, anxiety and associated measures such as quality of life and fatigue [2, 5, 11].
To systematically review the effects of Reiki, Therapeutic Touch and Healing Touch on pain, anxiety, and associated measures, and to consider their potential relevance improving palliative care patients’ symptom control.
METHOD
Figure 2: Effects of biotherapies (N = 19)
Further research is indicated to determine:
the impact of biotherapies on symptom and quality of life outcomes for palliative care populations.
nurses’ and doctors’ perceptions of implementing biotherapies within the palliative care setting.
Rigorous research designs that include a measure of cumulative effects of biofield therapies are required [6, 7].
Databases Searched: MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCO),
AMED, Cochrane Library, PROQUEST, Wiley Online Library
and Scopus
Search Terms: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms
Include ‘Therapeutic Touch’ and ‘Reiki’, ‘Healing Touch’ was
used as a keyword search.
Articles identified via
database search and hand
searching reference lists.
Titles and abstracts screened
for relevance
N= 189
Articles hand searched.
Those involving paediatric
patients and studies
solely measuring
physiological parameters
were excluded
N = 38
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Articles retrieved in full text
N = 151
Non RCT’s and
duplicate studies
were excluded
N = 132
Articles included in the review:
N = 19
REFERENCES
AIM
1. DiNucci, E. M. 2005, ‘Energy healing: a complementary treatment for orthopaedic and other conditions’, Ortho Nurs, vol. 24, no. 4, pp
2. Aghabati, N, Mohammadi E & Esmaiel, Z.P. 2010, ‘The effect of therapeutic touch on pain and fatigue of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy’, ECAM, vol. 7, no. 3, pp
3. Smith, M. C et al. 2003, ‘Outcomes of touch therapies during bone marrow transplant’, Altern Th H, vol. 9, no. 1, pp
4. Meehan, T. C. 1993, ‘Therapeutic touch and postoperative pain: a Rogerian research study’, Nurs Sci Q, vol. 6, no. 2, pp
5. MacIntyre et al. 2008, ‘The efficacy of healing touch in coronary artery bypass surgery recovery: a randomized clinical trial’, Altern Th H, vol. 14, no. 4, pp
6. Shiflett, S. et al. 2002, ‘Effect of Reiki treatments on functional recovery in patients in post-stroke rehabilitation: a pilot study’, JACM, vol. 8, no. 6, pp
7. Friedman, R. S. C et al. 2010, ‘Effects of Reiki on autonomic activity early after acute coronary syndrome’, Ameri Coll of Cardio J, vol. 56, no. 12, pp
8. Woods, D, Craven, R. & Whitney, J. 2005, ‘The effect of therapeutic touch on behavioral symptoms of persons with dementia’, Altern Th H, vol. 11, no. 1, pp
9. Olson, K, Hanson, J. & Michaud, M. 2003, ‘A phase II trial of Reiki for the management of pain in advanced cancer patients’, J Pain Symp, vol. 26, no. 5, pp
10. Cook, C, Guerrerio, J. & Slater, V. 2004, ‘Healing touch and quality of life in women receiving radiation treatment for cancer: a randomized controlled trial’, Altern Th H, vol. 10, no. 3, pp
RESULTS
Of the 19 studies, 11 studies involved people with potential palliative care needs.
Positive improvements in pain [2], anxiety [5], fatigue [2], high frequency heart rate variability [7], ability to ‘get going’ [6], dementia symptoms (manual manipulation and vocalisation) [8], quality of life [9, 10], comfort [3] and increased time periods between analgesic requirements [4] were reported.

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