NCT06524895

Reiki Breast Surgery QOL Project for Women Undergoing Breast Surgery

Pilot Study of Medical Reiki for Women Undergoing Surgery for Breast Cancer: Impact on Quality of Life, Medical Recovery Metrics, and Cortisol

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 32 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Albert Einstein College of Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years – 99 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This pilot study will examine the impact of pre-operative Medical Reiki© on the psychosocial well-being and recovery of underserved women undergoing breast cancer surgery.

Detailed description

Reiki is a form of energy therapy involving the facilitation of healing through the manipulation of biofields utilizing light touch. Practitioners lightly place their hands directly on or above the patient's body to transmit energy from the practitioner to the recipient. This process of targeting the energy fields around the patient's body is believed to stimulate the patient's natural ability to heal itself. Reiki is a safe treatment modality that emphasizes spirituality in healing and wellness whose origins are rooted in ancient Tibetan traditions. The prevalence of integrating complementary therapies such as Reiki into mainstream medical practices is demonstrated by the number of hospitals that make use of these therapies to help alleviate, for example, the fatigue, pain, anxiety, and diminished quality of life experienced by cancer patients and those with other illnesses. Reiki in particular, has become more widespread in cancer centers because of its potential to reduce cancer-related symptoms and enhanced wellness without posing harm to patients. A pilot double-blind randomized-controlled design will be used to engage 32 women in a pre-operative Reiki intervention designed by Raven Keyes called Medical Reiki© with a follow-up of two months. Women diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer undergoing mastectomy for their treatment will be recruited to study within two weeks of surgery. Patients will be recruited to receive Medical Reiki© vs Sham Reiki (attention control) before surgery, with medical and psychosocial outcomes assessment conducted at three time points: -T0 - Baseline/pre-surgery; T1 (1-month); T2 (2 months). These assessments will either be self-administered or administered via telephone by the research team. The study The study will aim to determine the feasibility of offering Medical Reiki to breast cancer patients immediately prior to breast surgery; the impact of pre-operative Medical Reiki© vs Sham Reiki on post-operative recovery at the identified timepoints based on the specified measures of Subjective QoL metrics and objective recovery metrics.

Conditions

• Breast Cancer

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Medical Reiki	Reiki is a form of energy therapy involving the facilitation of healing through the manipulation of biofields utilizing light touch. It is a process of targeting the energy fields around the patient's body is believed to stimulate the patient's natural ability to heal itself.
OTHER	Sham Reiki	Sham Reiki involves a non-Reiki healer who mimics the treatment of a Reiki healer. Sham Reiki providers will be medical students who are not interested and without prior knowledge or experience with Reiki Medicine.The medical students will not have any prior experience in Reiki healing or associated energy healing modalities. It is better for this project if the medical student has no interest so there is true placebo effect being monitored.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-11-09
• Primary completion: 2026-11-01
• Completion: 2026-11-01
• First posted: 2024-07-29
• Last updated: 2026-03-04

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States