SUMMARY

• Both professional organizations, Healing Touch International and the Healing Touch Program, carry out an active research program. Their websites contain completed research projects, as well as those in process.
  
  
• Conducting Healing Touch research is challenging since the exact mechanism of action cannot be seen or easily explained. Additionally, researchers have often found it difficult to measure effects and it can be difficult to determine whether outcomes can be attributed solely to the Healing Touch techniques or to other factors. It is commonly assumed that the presence of the Healing Touch practitioner may be a confounding variable that has a possible affect on client outcomes.
  
  
• Research studies on Healing Touch show positive benefits. The most commonly researched areas of Healing Touch are pain reduction, post-operative recovery, symptom and pain management, immunological changes, depression, and stress reduction.

This completes the Science and Evidence section. Click the forward arrow to advance to the Regulation and Certification section.