Study Results
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Basic Information
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COMPLETED
NA
20 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2017-09-10
2018-01-10
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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Once housed in supportive living residences, formerly homeless adults with mental illness commonly continue to experience high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), despite receiving medical and psychiatric services. Stress that is not sufficiently addressed can frequently lead to rehospitalizations and subsequent loss of housing. Although stress has been successfully treated with anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals, cognitive behavioral therapies, and support groups in adults in the larger population, formerly homeless adults with chronic mental illness tend to experience greater treatment resistance to such interventions or respond positively for short intervals and then relapse.
One nonpharmacological intervention that has gained increasing support in the last two decades is therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch, also referred to as healing touch and touch therapy, is a complementary and alternative treatment in which practitioners seek to alleviate or reduce pain, stress, or anxiety through direct hand contact with a client's bio- or energy field. A bio- or energy field is defined in quantum physics as an interconnected web of energy that surrounds living organisms and may regulate emotional states and physical health. Although the existence of energy fields is increasingly accepted in the scientific community, the precise roles of and mechanisms through which energy fields work are not understood. While eastern health practitioners have for centuries used therapies addressing energy fields-for example, acupuncture, acupressure, Ayurveda, qi gong-western practitioners have only begun using such therapies in the last century. The most common western names for energy field therapy are therapeutic touch, healing touch, Reiki, and touch therapy-all of which have growing bodies of evidence supporting their effectiveness in the reduction of stress, anxiety, and pain in various diagnostic populations including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain syndromes.
Although there is evidence that therapeutic touch can help reduce symptoms of PTSD in veterans, and stress and anxiety in cancer and cardiac patients, little information exists about whether therapeutic touch can reduce stress in formerly homeless adults with chronic mental illness. The ability to reduce stress in formerly homeless adults may help them manage illness symptoms better and prevent relapse for longer intervals.
In this comparative effectiveness study, the investigators will provide a conventional stress management psychoeducation group to 20 participants. Ten of these 20 participants will additionally receive 30 minutes of therapeutic touch delivered in a group setting. The remaining 10 participants will receive 30 minutes of sham therapeutic touch delivered in a group setting. Ten additional participants will be allocated to a control group with no intervention.
Conditions
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Study Design
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RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
TREATMENT
SINGLE
Study Groups
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Psychoeducation and Therapeutic Touch
6-week psychoeducation group. The following 1-hour modules will be delivered:
Week 1: Anger Management and Conflict Negotiation Week 2: Meditation and Breathing Techniques Week 3: Nutrition Week 4: Exercise, Leisure, and Recreation Week 5: Sleep Week 6: Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)
Directly after the psychoeducation group is completed, 30-minute therapeutic touch will be administered.
Psychoeducation and Therapeutic Touch
6-week, 1-hour psychoeducation group followed by 30-minute therapeutic touch
Psychoeducation and Sham Therapeutic Touch
6-week psychoeducation group. The following 1-hour modules will be delivered:
Week 1: Anger Management and Conflict Negotiation Week 2: Meditation and Breathing Techniques Week 3: Nutrition Week 4: Exercise, Leisure, and Recreation Week 5: Sleep Week 6: Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP)
Directly after the psychoeducation group is completed, 30-minute sham therapeutic touch will be administered.
Psychoeducation and Therapeutic Touch
6-week, 1-hour psychoeducation group followed by 30-minute therapeutic touch
Control
No intervention
No interventions assigned to this group
Interventions
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Psychoeducation and Therapeutic Touch
6-week, 1-hour psychoeducation group followed by 30-minute therapeutic touch
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* History of homelessness
* History of mental illness
Exclusion Criteria
21 Years
65 Years
ALL
Yes
Sponsors
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Columbia University
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Sharon Gutman
Professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine
Principal Investigators
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Sharon Gutman, PhD
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Columbia University
Locations
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Columbia University Medical Center
New York, New York, United States
Countries
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References
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US Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2015) 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress (November 2015). Retrieved from https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2015-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
Treatment Advocacy Center. (2014) Eliminating barriers to the treatment of mental illness. How many individuals with a serious mental illness are homeless? Retrieved from http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/problem/consequences-ofnon-treatment/2058
Office of National Drug Control Policy. (n.d.) Chapter 3. Integrate treatment for substance use disorders into mainstream health care and expand support for recovery. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/chapter-integrate-treatment-forsubstance-use-disorders
Lippert AM & Lee BA. Stress, coping, and mental health differences among homeless people. Sociological Inquiry. 2015 85(3), 343-374. doi:10.1111/soin.12080
Lee CM, Mangurian C, Tieu L, Ponath C, Guzman D, Kushel M. Childhood Adversities Associated with Poor Adult Mental Health Outcomes in Older Homeless Adults: Results From the HOPE HOME Study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2017 Feb;25(2):107-117. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2016.07.019. Epub 2016 Aug 17.
Harvey PD, Rosenthal JB. Treatment resistant schizophrenia: Course of brain structure and function. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2016 Oct 3;70:111-6. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2016.02.008. Epub 2016 Feb 27.
Roe CA, Sonnex C, Roxburgh EC. Two meta-analyses of noncontact healing studies. Explore (NY). 2015 Jan-Feb;11(1):11-23. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2014.10.001. Epub 2014 Oct 23.
Meissner K, Koch A. Sympathetic Arousal during a Touch-Based Healing Ritual Predicts Increased Well-Being. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:641704. doi: 10.1155/2015/641704. Epub 2015 Jul 5.
Nourbakhsh MR, Bell TJ, Martin JB, Arab AM. The Effects of Oscillatory Biofield Therapy on Pain and Functional Limitations Associated with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Study. J Altern Complement Med. 2016 Nov;22(11):911-920. doi: 10.1089/acm.2016.0083. Epub 2016 Aug 3.
Prakash S, Chowdhury AR, & Gupta, A. (2015). Monitoring the human health by measuring the biofield
Anderson JG, Taylor AG. Effects of healing touch in clinical practice: a systematic review of randomized clinical trials. J Holist Nurs. 2011 Sep;29(3):221-8. doi: 10.1177/0898010110393353. Epub 2011 Jan 12.
Hammerschlag R, Marx BL, Aickin M. Nontouch biofield therapy: a systematic review of human randomized controlled trials reporting use of only nonphysical contact treatment. J Altern Complement Med. 2014 Dec;20(12):881-92. doi: 10.1089/acm.2014.0017.
Jain S, McMahon GF, Hasen P, Kozub MP, Porter V, King R, Guarneri EM. Healing Touch with Guided Imagery for PTSD in returning active duty military: a randomized controlled trial. Mil Med. 2012 Sep;177(9):1015-21. doi: 10.7205/milmed-d-11-00290.
Krucoff MW, Crater SW, Green CL, Maas AC, Seskevich JE, Lane JD, Loeffler KA, Morris K, Bashore TM, Koenig HG. Integrative noetic therapies as adjuncts to percutaneous intervention during unstable coronary syndromes: Monitoring and Actualization of Noetic Training (MANTRA) feasibility pilot. Am Heart J. 2001 Nov;142(5):760-9. doi: 10.1067/mhj.2001.119138.
Tabatabaee A, Tafreshi MZ, Rassouli M, Aledavood SA, AlaviMajd H, Farahmand SK. Effect of Therapeutic Touch in Patients with Cancer: a Literature Review. Med Arch. 2016 Apr;70(2):142-7. doi: 10.5455/medarh.2016.70.142-147. Epub 2016 Apr 1.
Other Identifiers
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AAAR4338
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id
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