Pain, Anxiety, & Reiki (Studies in 2014)

Findings by Susan Thrane, RN, MSN, OCN and Susan M. Cohen, PhD, APRN, FAAN

University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Research in Cancer Survivorship, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Signal recorded from the hands of a therapeutic tFigure 3. Healing touch practitioner on the SQUID device. Reprinted from Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis, Oschman, J. L. Polarity, therapeutic touch, magnet therapy, and related methods, p. 87, Copyright Elsevier Limited (2000), with permission from Elsevier

Susan Thrane and Susan M. Cohen review scientific journal articles published on the effect of reiki on alleviating pain and anxiety adults. The authors use a statistical validation technique (measuring Cohen's d) to determine whether the studies show with statistical significance that reiki was effective. The benefit of quantifying the statistical significance of medical impact in this way is to show that the results generated are measurably different from one another (called "statistical significance"). In randomized trials, results may vary to a degree in which measurable difference is not determinable, unless further mathematical design is used, such as Cohen's d. This test of significance is appropriate insofar as testing whether the means (the average) of two studies are mathematically different from one another.

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Effect of Reiki Therapy on Pain and Anxiety in Adults: An In-Depth Literature Review of Randomized Trials with Effect Size Calculations, Pain Manag Nurs. 2014 Dec; 15(4): 897–908.