Healing touch as a supportive intervention for adult acute leukemia patients: a pilot investigation of effects on distress and symptoms.

Background: Goals were to determine the feasibility of conducting a study of Healing Touch (HT) for acute leukemia patients and to obtain preliminary data on its effectiveness.

Methods: Forty hospitalized leukemia patients completed a brief survey of HT knowledge/experience. A prospective cohort (N = 12) was invited to participate in an HT intervention (9 30-minute sessions over 3 weeks); they completed measures of distress, symptoms, and sleep (at weeks 1 and 5), and completed single item ratings of fatigue, nausea, distress, and pain immediately pre-post selected HT sessions. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to analyze change in pre-post session ratings and distress, symptom, and sleep measures.

Results: Among survey respondents, 8% had used HT in the past, and 71% were interested in using HT. In the prospective cohort, there were significant pre-post session improvements in fatigue and nausea (but not in distress and pain). There were no significant changes between weeks 1 and 5 in distress, symptoms, or sleep. Ratings and qualitative feedback on HT were positive, focused mainly on feeling relaxed following HT sessions.

Conclusions: It is feasible to recruit patients hospitalized for acute leukemia to a study of HT. Preliminary data on short-term improvements in symptoms indicate these are promising outcomes for future study.