The Effect of Reiki Therapy on Cancer Pain Management in Palliative Care Patients: A Systematic Review

This systematic review was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of reiki therapy in cancer pain management and to draw attention to the availability of this application in palliative care units. The studies on cancer pain management, both in English and Turkish, of which full text versions were accessible, were systematically analyzed, and the studies without full text and ongoing studies were not included. The study was conducted by reviewing Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, EBSCOhost, MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Ovid, ProQuest, Web of Science, and ULAKBİM National DataBases. There were no year restrictions in screening. Keywords such as “cancer pain”, “cancer pain management”, “reiki” and “palliative care” were used to access the studies. Nineteen research papers were accessed and 5 of them were found to be compatible with the inclusion criteria of our study. Cohrane was established as the guideline to determine levels of evidence. Of the included studies, one was a randomized controlled study, three were experimental studies, the other one was a systematic review. In our day, randomized controlled studies examining the effect of reiki therapy on pain in cancer patients who receive palliative care are limited. In particular, studies have shown that reiki is even more effective in reducing pain when used in addition to pharmacological treatment and conventional nursing care. It is observed that the studies are carried out with a small sample number and generally with a single group. Pain assessments are usually performed with visual scale and numeric scale, reiki sessions are performed in the range of 10-90 minutes and 2-6 sessions per week. When we examine the effect of reiki on physical and psychological recovery in cancer patients treated in palliative care, it is reported that reiki has a positive effect on reducing pain. However, there are gaps in matters such as which hand position to use in reiki therapy, the duration and frequency of the reiki session, and the application period. For this reason, it is recommended to conduct randomized controlled studies with a large sample group.