Distant Healing for HIV/AIDS

NCT ID: NCT00079534

Last Updated: 2006-08-18

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

150 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2000-12-31

Study Completion Date

2003-12-31

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to determine whether individuals praying at a distance (also known as "Distant Healing") can positively affect the health of people with HIV/AIDS.

Detailed Description

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Significant numbers of people with HIV/AIDS seek spiritual or "psychic" treatment. Distant healing could potentially be of benefit to large numbers of HIV/AIDS patients, as it is widely available and requires no travel or other activity on the part of the patient. However, the treatment can be costly and has not yet been proven effective in a controlled clinical trial. This study will evaluate the efficacy of distant healing in patients with HIV/AIDS.

Participants in this study will be randomly assigned to either the distant healing group or a control group. All participants will have hour-long study visits at entry and Months 6 and 12. At study visits, participants will complete a demographic questionnaire, self-report health and symptom inventory, quality of life assessment, and profile of mood states. Blood will be drawn at each study visit.

Conditions

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HIV Infections AIDS

Keywords

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AIDS HIV Prayer Healing Complementary Therapies

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Interventions

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Non-local/distant healing or prayer

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* HIV infection
* History of a CD4 cell count less than 200 cells/mm3
* Stable antiretroviral regimen
* English-speaking

Exclusion Criteria

* Inability or unwillingness to fill out questionnaires
* History of non-HIV related life-threatening disease
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)

NIH

Sponsor Role lead

Principal Investigators

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Donald Abrams, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of California, San Francisco

Jerome J. Stone, MA, RN

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

California Pacific Medical Center

Locations

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California Pacific Medical Center

San Francisco, California, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Other Identifiers

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R01AT000485-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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