Effectiveness of energy healing on Quality of Life: A pragmatic intervention trial in colorectal cancer patients

Abstract

Our aim was to explore the effectiveness of energy healing, a commonly used complementary and alternative therapy, on well-being in cancer patients while assessing the possible influence on the results of participating in a randomized controlled trial. 247 patients treated for colorectal cancer (response rate: 31.5%) were either (a) randomized to healing (RH) or control (RC) or (b) had self selected the healing (SH) or control condition (SC), and completed questionnaires assessing well-being (QoL, depressive symptoms, mood, and sleep quality), attitude toward complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and faith/spirituality at baseline, 1 week, and 2 months post-intervention. They also indicated, at baseline, whether they considered QoL, depressive symptoms, mood, and sleep quality as important outcomes to them. Multilevel linear models revealed no overall effect of healing on QoL (p = 0.156), depressive symptoms (p = 0.063), mood (p = 0.079), or sleep quality (p = 0.346) in the intervention groups (RH, SH) compared with control (SC). Effects of healing on mood were only found for patients who had a positive attitude toward CAM and considered the outcome in question as important (SH: Regression coefficient: -8.78; SE: 2.64; CI: -13.96 to -3.61; p = 0.001, and RH: Regression coefficient -7.45; SE: 2.76; CI: -12.86 to -2.04; p = 0.007). Whereas it is generally assumed that CAMs such as healing have beneficial effects on well-being, our results indicated no overall effectiveness of energy healing on QoL, depressive symptoms, mood, and sleep quality in colorectal cancer patients. Effectiveness of healing on well-being was, however, related to factors such as self-selection and a positive attitude toward the treatment.