P02.42. Non-touch biofield therapy: a systematic review of human randomized controlled trials reporting use of only non-physical contact treatment

Purpose Biofield therapies, e.g. External Qigong, Healing Touch, Johrei, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch, commonly combine physical touch and non-physical contact to stimulate healing. Interpretation of such healing as mediated via electromagnetic and/or other types of biofield(s) is confounded by findings that light touch can lessen stress and reduce pain. The present review of human RCTs that report using only non-physical contact healing aims to develop evaluative criteria that reflect both the ‘earlyphase’ (pilot study) nature of most biofield therapy trials and the real-world practice of these therapies.