[escepticos] "A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch", JAMA

["Eduardo Zotes Sarmiento" <diotalle@...>]

Una nota breve... Tengo prisa...

Esta mañana viendo las noticias de la ABC norteamericana anunciaron este estudio
del JAMA. Interesante para la corrala... Pero la nota curiosa es que este estudio 
partio de la iniciativa de una niña de 6 años (me parece que se equivocaron yo digo
que unos 12 o asi, que puede ser o L.Rosa o E.Rosa). Posteriormente con ayuda
de su madre y de un matematico escribieron el articulo y lo mandaron a JAMA....

Si alguien sabe la historia que la cuente mas apliamente, y sino ya lo hare yo mañana,
de momento aqui esta la nota de la web de JAMA...

Buenas noches... Me voy a sobre... ;-)

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Fuente: http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/journals/most/recent/issues/jama/oc71352a.htm

Abstracts - April 1, 1998 

                 Editor's Note 

                 A Close Look at Therapeutic Touch 

                 Linda Rosa, BSN, RN; Emily Rosa; Larry Sarner; Stephen Barrett, MD 

                 Context.?Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a widely used nursing practice rooted
                 in mysticism but alleged to have a scientific basis. Practitioners of TT claim
                 to treat many medical conditions by using their hands to manipulate a "human
                 energy field" perceptible above the patient's skin. 

                 Objective.?To investigate whether TT practitioners can actually perceive a
                 "human energy field." 

                 Design.?Twenty-one practitioners with TT experience for from 1 to 27
                 years were tested under blinded conditions to determine whether they could
                 correctly identify which of their hands was closest to the investigator's hand.
                 Placement of the investigator's hand was determined by flipping a coin.
                 Fourteen practitioners were tested 10 times each, and 7 practitioners were
                 tested 20 times each. 

                 Main Outcome Measure.?Practitioners of TT were asked to state
                 whether the investigator's unseen hand hovered above their right hand or
                 their left hand. To show the validity of TT theory, the practitioners should
                 have been able to locate the investigator's hand 100% of the time. A score
                 of 50% would be expected through chance alone. 

                 Results.?Practitioners of TT identified the correct hand in only 123 (44%)
                 of 280 trials, which is close to what would be expected for random chance.
                 There was no significant correlation between the practitioner's score and
                 length of experience (r=0.23). The statistical power of this experiment was
                 sufficient to conclude that if TT practitioners could reliably detect a human
                 energy field, the study would have demonstrated this. 

                 Conclusions.?Twenty-one experienced TT practitioners were unable to
                 detect the investigator's "energy field." Their failure to substantiate TT's most
                 fundamental claim is unrefuted evidence that the claims of TT are groundless
                 and that further professional use is unjustified. 

                 JAMA. 1998;279:1005-1010



                 From the Questionable Nurse Practices Task Force, National Council
                 Against Health Fraud Inc (Ms L. Rosa), and the National Therapeutic
                 Touch Study Group (Mr Sarner), Loveland, Colo; and Quackwatch Inc,
                 Allentown, Pa (Dr Barrett). Ms E. Rosa is a sixth-grade student at
                 Loveland, Colo. 

                 Ms E. Rosa designed and conducted the tests and tabulated her findings. Mr
                 Sarner did the statistical analysis. He and Ms L. Rosa recruited the test
                 subjects, performed the literature analysis, and drafted this report. Dr Barrett
                 added background material and edited the report for publication. 



                 EDITOR'S NOTE.?The American public is fascinated by alternative
                 (complementary, unconventional, integrative, traditional, Eastern) medicine.
                 Some of these practices have a valid scientific basis; some of them are
                 proven hogwash; many of them have never been adequately tested
                 scientifically. "Therapeutic Touch" falls into the latter classification, but
                 nonetheless is the basis for a booming international business as treatment for
                 many medical conditions. This simple, statistically valid study tests the
                 theoretical basis for "Therapeutic Touch": the "human energy field." This
                 study found that such a field does not exist. I believe that practitioners should
                 disclose these results to patients, third-party payers should question whether
                 they should pay for this procedure, and patients should save their money and
                 refuse to pay for this procedure until or unless additional honest
                 experimentation demonstrates an actual effect. 

                 George D. Lundberg, MD, Editor 

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Salu2...

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                          EDUARDO ZOTES SARMIENTO 
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