The Touchstone Process: an ongoing critical evaluation of Reiki in the scientific literature.

PURPOSE: The Touchstone Process was developed as an ongoing process to systematically analyze published, peer-reviewed studies of Reiki, the results being made accessible to the public online.

METHOD: Thirteen scientifically qualified experts in the field of Reiki were assembled into 3 teams to retrieve, evaluate, and summarize articles using standardized, piloted evaluation forms.

RESULTS: Summaries of 26 Reiki articles, including strengths and weaknesses, were posted on a newly developed Web site ( www.centerforreikiresearch.org), together with an overall summary of the status of Reiki research and guidelines for future research: The Touchstone Process determined that only 12 articles were based on a robust experimental design and utilized well-established outcome parameters. Of these articles, 2 provided no support, 5 provided some support, and 5 demonstrated strong evidence for the use of Reiki as a healing modality.

CONCLUSION: There is a need for further high-quality studies in this area.

Baldwin AL, Vitale A, Brownell E, Scicinski J, Kearns M, Rand W. Holist Nurs Pract. 2010 Sep-Oct;24(5):260-76. Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA. abaldwin@u.arizona.edu