Anxiety and stress are problems which are often seen in patients about to undergo upper GI endoscopy, and taking them under control is important in calming the person and in reducing complications. Studies have been conducted evaluating the effectiveness on these symptoms of various procedures such as aromatherapy, music therapy and reflexology in patients about to undergo upper GI endoscopy (Monfared, Mirzaee Jirdehi, Mansour Ghanaei, Joukar, & Kazemnezhad Leyli, 2020; Shaermoghadam, Shahdadi, Khorsandvakilzadeh, Afshari, & Badakhsh, 2016; Sogabe et al, 2018). Only one study was found which examined the effect of reiki on anxiety before colonoscopy (Hulse, Stuart-Shor, & Russo, 2010), and no studies were found examining the effect of the implementation of reiki on levels of anxiety, stress and comfort in patients about to undergo upper GI endoscopy. This strengthens the particular value of this research. Also, it is thought that the results of this study will contribute to the literature in forming a basis for other studies on the topic. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of the application of reiki and sham reiki on anxiety, stress and comfort levels in patients about to undergo upper GI endoscopy.This study had a randomized sham-controlled trial design. It was conducted between 2 February 2021 and 1 April 2021 in the Endoscopy Outpatients' Department of a state hospital in the Southeast Region of Turkey. In order to determine the applicability of the data collection form, a pre-application was conducted with 15 patients. The patients who were in the application group were not included in the sample group. The data were collected using the Patient Identification Form, the Visual Analog Scale for Stress (VASS), the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI) and the Short General Comfort Questionnaire (SGCQ).
Anxiety and stress are problems which are often seen in patients about to undergo upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, and taking them under control is important in calming the person and in reducing complications. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of reiki applied before upper gastrointestinal endoscopy on levels of anxiety, stress and comfort. This was a single-blind, randomized sham-controlled study. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were separated by randomization into three groups: reiki (n=53), sham reiki (n=53) and control (n=53). A total of 159 patients participated in the study. In the reiki group, reiki was applied once for approximately 20-25 minutes before gastrointestinal endoscopy. Collection of data was by a Patient Identification Form, the Visual Analog Scale for Stress, the State Anxiety Inventory, and the Short General Comfort Questionnaire.