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Distant Healing for HIV/AIDS

This study has been completed.
Sponsor:
Information provided by:
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT00079534
First received: March 9, 2004
Last updated: August 16, 2006
Last verified: August 2006
History of Changes
  Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine whether individuals praying at a distance (also known as "Distant Healing") can positively affect the health of people with HIV/AIDS.


Condition Intervention
HIV Infections
AIDS
 Behavioral: Non-local/distant healing or prayer

Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized
Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double-Blind
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title: Distant Healing Efforts for AIDS by Nurses and "Healers"

Resource links provided by NLM:

MedlinePlus related topics: HIV/AIDS
U.S. FDA Resources

Further study details as provided by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM):

Estimated Enrollment: 150
Study Start Date: December 2000
Estimated Study Completion Date: December 2003
Detailed Description:

Significant numbers of people with HIV/AIDS seek spiritual or “psychic" treatment. Distant healing could potentially be of benefit to large numbers of HIV/AIDS patients, as it is widely available and requires no travel or other activity on the part of the patient. However, the treatment can be costly and has not yet been proven effective in a controlled clinical trial. This study will evaluate the efficacy of distant healing in patients with HIV/AIDS.

Participants in this study will be randomly assigned to either the distant healing group or a control group. All participants will have hour-long study visits at entry and Months 6 and 12. At study visits, participants will complete a demographic questionnaire, self-report health and symptom inventory, quality of life assessment, and profile of mood states. Blood will be drawn at each study visit.

  Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years to 65 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:   Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No
Criteria

Inclusion criteria

  • HIV infection
  • History of a CD4 cell count less than 200 cells/mm3
  • Stable antiretroviral regimen
  • English-speaking

Exclusion criteria

  • Inability or unwillingness to fill out questionnaires
  • History of non-HIV related life-threatening disease
  Contacts and Locations
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00079534

Locations
United States, California
California Pacific Medical Center
San Francisco, California, United States, 94115
Sponsors and Collaborators
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Investigators
Principal Investigator: Donald Abrams, MD University of California, San Francisco
Study Director: Jerome J. Stone, MA, RN California Pacific Medical Center
  More Information

No publications provided

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00079534     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: R01 AT000485-01
Study First Received: March 9, 2004
Last Updated: August 16, 2006
Health Authority: United States: Federal Government

Keywords provided by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM):
AIDS
HIV
Prayer
Healing
Complementary Therapies

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
 Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Slow Virus Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 19, 2013