Completed

Distant Healing Efforts for AIDS by Nurses and "Healers"

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What is being tested

Data Collection

Who is being recruted

Blood-Borne Infections+11

+ Urogenital Diseases

+ Genital Diseases

From 18 to 65 Years
See all eligibility criteria
How is the trial designed

Treatment Study

Interventional
Study Start: December 2000
See protocol details

Summary

Principal SponsorNational Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Last updated: January 14, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Study start date: December 1, 2000

Actual date on which the first participant was enrolled.

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.

Official TitleDistant Healing Efforts for AIDS by Nurses and "Healers" 
Principal SponsorNational Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
Last updated: January 14, 2026
Sourced from a government-validated database.Claim as a partner

Protocol

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
Design Details

150 patients to be enrolled

Total number of participants that the clinical trial aims to recruit.

Treatment Study

These studies test new ways to treat a disease, condition, or health issue. The goal is to see if a new drug, therapy, or approach works better or has fewer side effects than existing options.


Eligibility

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria: person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Conditions
Criteria

Any sex

Biological sex of participants that are eligible to enroll.

From 18 to 65 Years

Range of ages for which participants are eligible to join.

Healthy volunteers not allowed

If individuals who are healthy and do not have the condition being studied can participate.

Conditions

Pathology

Blood-Borne InfectionsUrogenital DiseasesGenital DiseasesCommunicable DiseasesImmunologic Deficiency SyndromesImmune System DiseasesInfectionsRetroviridae InfectionsRNA Virus InfectionsSexually Transmitted DiseasesVirus DiseasesSexually Transmitted Diseases, ViralHIV InfectionsLentivirus Infections

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

Study Centers

These are the hospitals, clinics, or research facilities where the trial is being conducted. You can find the location closest to you and its status.

This study has 1 location

Suspended

California Pacific Medical Center

San Francisco, United StatesSee the location
CompletedOne Study Center