Comparative Effectiveness of Stress Management

In 2015, approximately 600,000 people were reported to be homeless on any given night in the United States and 1.6 million used homeless shelter services. One-third of homeless adults who received shelter services were diagnosed with chronic mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression) and two-thirds had substance use disorders.

Once housed in supportive living residences, formerly homeless adults with mental illness commonly continue to experience high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), despite receiving medical and psychiatric services. Stress that is not sufficiently addressed can frequently lead to rehospitalizations and subsequent loss of housing. Although stress has been successfully treated with anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals, cognitive behavioral therapies, and support groups in adults in the larger population, formerly homeless adults with chronic mental illness tend to experience greater treatment resistance to such interventions or respond positively for short intervals and then relapse.

One nonpharmacological intervention that has gained increasing support in the last two decades is therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch, also referred to as healing touch and touch therapy, is a complementary and alternative treatment in which practitioners seek to alleviate or reduce pain, stress, or anxiety through direct hand contact with a client's bio- or energy field. A bio- or energy field is defined in quantum physics as an interconnected web of energy that surrounds living organisms and may regulate emotional states and physical health. Although the existence of energy fields is increasingly accepted in the scientific community, the precise roles of and mechanisms through which energy fields work are not understood. While eastern health practitioners have for centuries used therapies addressing energy fields-for example, acupuncture, acupressure, Ayurveda, qi gong-western practitioners have only begun using such therapies in the last century. The most common western names for energy field therapy are therapeutic touch, healing touch, Reiki, and touch therapy-all of which have growing bodies of evidence supporting their effectiveness in the reduction of stress, anxiety, and pain in various diagnostic populations including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic pain syndromes.

Although there is evidence that therapeutic touch can help reduce symptoms of PTSD in veterans, and stress and anxiety in cancer and cardiac patients, little information exists about whether therapeutic touch can reduce stress in formerly homeless adults with chronic mental illness. The ability to reduce stress in formerly homeless adults may help them manage illness symptoms better and prevent relapse for longer intervals.

In this comparative effectiveness study, the investigators will provide a conventional stress management psychoeducation group to 20 participants. Ten of these 20 participants will additionally receive 30 minutes of therapeutic touch delivered in a group setting. The remaining 10 participants will receive 30 minutes of sham therapeutic touch delivered in a group setting. Ten additional participants will be allocated to a control group with no intervention.

Inclusion criteria

• Current supportive housing resident
• History of homelessness
• History of mental illness

Exclusion criteria

• Severe behavioral or anger management disorder