The effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for improving the physical, mental and emotional health of people with chronic diseases and/or mental health conditions: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

Review question/objective The purpose of this systematic review is to: Identify, summarize and synthesize evidence on the uses and perceived benefits of a meridian-based energy psychology intervention, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for enhancing physical, mental and emotional health of people with chronic diseases and/or mental health conditions. Specifically, this systematic review will examine the available Level 1 scientific literature in order to examine the effectiveness of Emotional Freedom Techniques, as a tool to assist with improving people’s health. These will include: 1. Specific changes occurring in the physical body, as a result of administering EFT to a subject; for example, changes in cortisol levels, reduced clumping in blood cells, or a reduction in somatization. 2. Emotional and mental health benefits reported immediately and at a later follow-up time by subjects. Inclusion criteria Types of participants Studies involving chronic disease/mental health patients of all age groups and backgrounds will be considered. This review will consider studies that involve people suffering from a mental or physical health condition, such as fibromyalgia, obesity, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Studies which clearly state that subjects are receiving other treatments apart from just EFT, i.e. EFT is used as a supportive care method, will be excluded. This will enable better insight into EFT’s effectiveness as a treatment method for health conditions. Types of intervention(s)/phenomena of interest The intervention of interest is Emotional Freedom Techniques (tapping). Studies involving Thought Field Therapy, which is considered the predecessor of EFT, will be excluded from this review. Similarly, studies on traditional acupuncture and other forms of acupoint stimulation will also be excluded from this review. EFT is a technique that can be self-administered by patients. However, for the purpose of this review, only studies which involve a minimum of four hours of intervention/training by a practitioner will be considered. Self-administered EFT has been excluded to reduce variability in the review. Four hours of minimum intervention time has been chosen because literature on other comparable interventions, such as Brief Interventions suggest four short counselling sessions by a trained interventionist.12 Currently, there is no literature suggesting TRUNCATED AT 350 WORDS