An integrative review and meta-analysis of therapeutic touch research

Objective To perform an integrative research review and meta-analysis of th erapeutic touch research. Data Sources Bibliography maintained by the Nurse Healers-Professional Asso ciates International; MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Psylit databases; dissertation a nd master's theses. Study Selection Thirty-eight research articles were included in the analysi s. al dissertations and research articles were analyzed. Data Extraction Data on 32 substantive characteristics of the sample, the t herapeutic touch procedure, and the article/dissertation were extracted fol lowing Moody's method for an integrative research review. The meta-analysis used studies that reported means and standard deviations of the treatment and control groups. Data Synthesis The research questions were as follows: (1) What are the sub stantive characteristics of the sample, the therapeutic touch practice, and the article/dissertation in research studies from 1975 to 1997? (2) What d oes the research demonstrate regarding the efficacy of therapeutic touch as an intervention? (3) Based on the results of the review and meta-analysis, what are the gaps, trends,and outcomes of the therapeutic touch research s tudies? Conclusions The review demonstrated that there are many approaches to thera peutic touch research, samples are described incompletely, and the therapeu tic touch practices var in the studies. Most of the studies supported hypot heses regarding the efficacy of therapeutic touch, though a number had mixe d or negative results. A meta-analysis was performed on 13 studies. The ave rage effect size in these studies was .39, which is described as moderate. Gaps, trends, and outcomes were identified and discussed.