Biofield Science and Healing: An Emerging Frontier in Medicine

Patient experiences and outcomes in a virtual healing setting: A feasibility study

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

How do participants with anxiety receiving distance healing using tuning forks, experience healing sessions? What outcomes do they spontaneously report?

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Modified grounded theory, using single interviews to learn about experiences with distant sound healing.

METHODOLOGY

Standardized open-ended, qualitative interviews of 30-minute length were conducted after the intervention and analyzed using an inductive and iterative process for identifying themes, categories, and patterns in qualitative data.

CONTEXT

Single-arm, pilot feasibility study of Biofield Tuning (BT) for anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic delivered at a distance facilitated by Zoom (without video).

SAMPLE SELECTION

A total of 15 participants were recruited to this study: 13 completed all quantitative aspects, and the 12 who completed the interviews are reported here.

DATA COLLECTION

The 30-minute qualitative interviews were designed to understand the impact of virtual BT sessions on the participant's experience, anxiety, and within the larger context of their life. The Self-Assessment of Change measured subjective shifts pre and post treatment.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed using otter.ai. Two researchers read all the transcripts, identified key themes within the broader experience of sessions and outcomes categories, and came to consensus on key themes using a qualitative research analysis approach.

MAIN RESULTS

Participants were surprised by the degree to which they felt sensations and heard tuning fork changes. They commented on the accuracy of the healers' perceptions and comprehension of their life experiences. Participants reported positive shifts in perceptions of themselves and their surroundings, both interpersonally and in response to triggers. The patients' own words provide insight into the lived experiences of healing, and guide future research.

The Case for Whole-Person Integrative Care

Rationale: There is a need for medicine to deliver more whole-person care. This is a narrative review of several models of whole-person care and studies that illustrate the business case for whole-person models in primary care. Objectives: To provide an overview of what whole-person care models exist and explore evidence to support these models. Study Selection: Representative whole-person care models widely used in the United States are summarized and evaluated. Selected studies focused on outpatient primary care with examples from programs that integrate the delivery of conventional medical care, complementary and alternative medicine, and self-care within the context of social and cultural environments. Methods: Pubmed search conducted December 2020-February 2021. Two iterative searches using terms for "Whole Health Veterans Administration," "integrative medicine," "integrative health," "complementary and alternative medicine," and, as they related to the outcomes, of "health outcomes," "cost-effectiveness," "cost reduction," "patient satisfaction," and "physician satisfaction." Additional studies were identified from an initial search and the authors' experience of over 50 years. We looked for studies of whole-person care used in general primary care, those not using a single modality and only from United States practices. Results: A total of 125 (out of 1746) studies were found and met our inclusion criteria. We found that whole-person models of primary care exist, are quite heterogeneous in their approaches, and routinely report substantial benefits for improving the patient experience, clinical outcomes and in reducing costs. Conclusions: Evidence for the benefit of whole-person care models exist but definitions are quite heterogenous and unfocused. There is a need for more standardization of whole-person models and more research using whole systems approaches rather than reductionistic attempts using isolated components.