The effect of Reiki on depression in elderly people living in nursing home

Abstract

<span style="font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Reiki on depression in elderly persons living in nursing homes. The study was conducted randomized, controlled and experimental. The study universe consisted of 170 elderly and due to the long duration of the study and 90 elderly who volunteered for the study and fulfilled the inclusion criteria formed the sample. Ninety elderly individuals who were included in the study were separated into 3 groups using the random sampling method: 30 in the reiki group, 30 in the sham reiki group, and 30 in the control group. Data was collected using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). There was a significant decrease in depression score of the Reiki group while there was no significant difference in depression scores of the sham Reiki and control group on the 4th, 8th and 12th weeks considering 1st week. In addition, the depression score of the Reiki group was lower than the depression scores of the sham Reiki and control group on the 4th, 8th and 12th weeks. The results of this study indicate that Reiki might be effective for reducing depression in elderly persons living in nursing homes.</span>