Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 12
To identify the potential health benefits of Johrei healing and establish the feasibility of a subsequent RCT.
Volunteer families of three to five individuals, including at least one child diagnosed with eczema, were recruited to an uncontrolled pilot trial lasting 12 months. Parents were trained in Johrei healing and then practised at home with their family. Participants kept diaries and provided questionnaire data at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months. Eczema symptoms were scored on the Six Area Six Sign Atopic Dermatitis (SASSAD) scale.
From 94 enquiries, 17 families (18 children with eczema) were enrolled, nine families completed training in Johrei and four families completed the trial. SASSAD scores fell between baseline and 3 months for 8 out of 10 children but the observed changes cannot be separated from seasonal or other factors not controlled for in this design. Changes in the incidence of illness, as reported in diaries, were consistent with expected seasonal changes. The Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index, number of visits to GPs and CAM practitioners, days off sick, perceived stress, SF-36, WHOQUOL-BREF and significant others scale all failed to show any evidence of health benefits.
Difficulties encountered in recruitment, retention and compliance suggest that carrying out an RCT of Johrei in the UK with a sufficiently large and representative study sample may not be possible. Evidence for any health benefits was unconvincing.
The research project was funded by Sekai Kyusei Kyo Izunome through the British Johrei Society.
