Therapeutic Touch

1. Therapeutic Touch
Presentation Slides Created by:
Adam T. Gilbert

2. Therapeutic Touch
Defining
Establishing Value
Exploring Benefits
Discerning Barriers

3. More than meets the skin
Therapeutic Touch Defined
First described by Krieger & Kuntz in the 1970s as:
 Energy medicine
 A meditative, noncontact healing technique
 An anomalous transfer of energy by the healer
 purposefully accesses ‘the universal energy’
NIH’s National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM),
defines TT as:
The channeling of healing energy through the hands of a
practitioner into the client’s body to restore a normal
energy balance and, therefore, health.
(NIH NCCAM)
(Strickland and
Boylan, 2010)

4. Value in TT’s Effects
Psychological
Promotes Positive Mindset
Calmness
Clarity
Relieves Stress
Reduces Anxiety
Induces Relaxation
(Coakly and Duffy, 2010)
(Busch, Visser, Eybrechts, Komen, Oen,
Olff, Dokter, and Boxma, 2012)

5. Value in TT’s Effects (continued)
Patient Experience
 Enhanced Positive Perspective
 Appreciation of Care Received
 Enhanced Relationship with Nurse
 Increased Self Confidence
 Physiological and Psychological Effects
Improve Overall Sense of Wellbeing
Outcomes
 Improved Response to Treatments
Medical / Pharmacological
Nursing & Holistic Modalities
 Decreased Risk of Infection
Enhanced Immune Function
 Decreased Hospital LOS
Increased Cost Effectiveness
 Enhanced Patient Wellbeing

6. Therapeutic Touch
Times and Places
Perioperative
Patients Room
Lying in Bed
Sitting
During High Anxiety & Stressful Situations
When Not Responding to Antihypertensive Medication
When Experiencing Increased Pain

7. TT Time & Places Example:
21 Vascular Surgical Patients
12 Received TT
 Significant Improvement in
 Reported Pain Level
 Natural Killer Cells (NKC lab results)
 Increased
 Cortisol Levels (Lab results)
 Decreased
 Measurements Just Before TT & One Hour After
9 Without TT
 Same Indicators Measured at Same
Times via Same Routes
 No Changes Noted
ANCOVA Factors Covariates

8. Barriers to Implementation
Knowledge & Awareness
Need for Increased Awareness
Western Medical Culture
Associated with Spirituality
Intangible Energy
Research
 Difficult to Quantify Action
 No Instruments yet Invented to Measure
Biofeilds
 Kerlian Photography

9. References:
Busch, M., Visser, A., Eybrechts, M., van Komen, R., Oen, I., Olff, M., & ... Boxma, H. (2012). The
implementation and evaluation of therapeutic touch in burn patients: An instructive experience of
conducting a scientific study within a non-academic nursing setting. Patient Education &
Counseling, 89(3), 439-446. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2012.08.012
Coakley, A., & Duffy, M. (2010). The effect of therapeutic touch on postoperative patients. Journal Of
Holistic Nursing, 28(3), 193-200. doi:10.1177/0898010110368861
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine &National Institutes of Health. (n.d.)
Energy healing therapy. Terms related to complementary and alternative medicine. Retrieved by Hart
(2012) on October 26, 2012 from: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/providers/camterms.htm