Effectiveness of Laying-on-of-hands for Sickle Cell Disease

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of 1-year administration of laying-on-of-hands on the morbidity and mortality of patients with sickle cell disease in Africa.

Detailed Description
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Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) have a high risk of premature death in Africa, mainly due to insufficient medical services. SCD patients often visit emergency department and need hospitalization when they suffer from severe pain; however, they manage most of painful episodes at home. Appropriate pain management at home is, therefore, crucial to improve their clinical course and quality of life. Laying-on-of-hands may be a good candidate for home care management, because family member(s) can become a practitioner of laying-on-of-hands without difficulty and administer it to their loved one as an initial treatment whenever necessary. There are no reports concerning the effectiveness of laying-on-of-hands for the outcomes of SCD patients, as far as we have investigated.

Official Title
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Effectiveness of Laying-on-of-hands for Patients With Sickle Cell Disease in Africa

Conditions
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Sickle Cell Disease, Pain Crisis Recurrent, Anemia, Infection, Death

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: laying-on-of-hands


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: patients with symptoms associated with sickle cell disease those able to receive laying-on-of-hands every weekday for 1 year those able to receive conventional medical treatment whenever necessary those able to receive blood test at the beginning, after 6 month and after 1 year Exclusion Criteria: those who wish to use other complementary and alternative therapies along with laying-on-of-hands

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 3 Years
Maximum Age: 40 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: laying-on-of-hands<br>Patients of this arm received laying-on-of-hands twice a day (45 minutes each) every weekday for 1year, and received conventional medical treatment if necessary. | Behavioral: laying-on-of-hands<br>* The intervention group received laying-on-of-hands every weekday for 1 year along with conventional medicine. The control group did not undergo any alternatives to OPT.<br>* Other names: biofield therapy;|
| No Intervention: control group<br>Patients of this arm did not receive any alternatives other than conventional treatment. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| disease-related episodes and mortality |  | 3 years and 9 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| blood data |  | 1 year | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Sickle cell disease, laying-on-of-hands, morbidity, mortality