Review of Studies of Healing Touch.

Purpose: To review studies of healing touch and its implications for practice and research. Design: A review of the literature from published works, abstracts from conference proceedings, theses, and dissertations was conducted to synthesize information on healing touch. Works available until June 2003 were referenced. Methods: The studies were categorized by target of interventions and outcomes were evaluated. Findings and Conclusions: Over 30 studies have been conducted with healing touch as the independent variable. Although no generalizable results were found, a foundation exists for further research to test its benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]