Commentary on “A Pilot Study of the Experience of Participating in a Therapeutic Touch Practice Group”

Despite controversy and the reluctance of skepticsto accept mounting evidence, Therapeutic Touch (TT) continues to endure as a central practice modal-ity in holistic nursing. Few if any nursing interven-tions have been researched more extensively than TT. A search of the literature reveals that there are more than 1,200 published journal articles, dozens of book chapters, and more than 8 books on TT, with more than 50 of these publications being either experimen-tal or quasi-experimental studies testing the effective-ness of TT in reducing outcomes such as pain, stress, and anxiety. There is more than 35 years of research on TT, and although more studies are needed, a meta-analytic review by Peters (1999) of 9 studies meeting rigorous criteria for inclusion and published between 1986 and 1996 concluded that TT has a medium effec