LifeSpark provides sessions at several hospital cancer centers.
Our team of trained LifeSpark Reiki and Healing Touch providers deliver 20-minute sessions to individuals in the infusion centers while people receive chemotherapy. We work out of four Colorado hospitals.
UCHealth Anschutz Cancer Center in Aurora
Denver Health Medical Center Cancer Center
UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital Cancer Center
UCHealth Memorial Hospital Cancer Center in Colorado Springs
Current Nurse Resilience Study
LifeSpark has conducted a pilot research project studying Oncology nurses who learn Reiki and the impact it has on their Resilience.
Initial five-nurse program
In 2019, LifeSpark was approached with a recommendation that we create a Reiki program for oncology nurses to assist with stress and burnout. Reiki as a self-care tool is used widely by Reiki practitioners as a means of staying calm and relaxed. Supporting nurses with this versatile and easy-to-use self-care tool could help them be less stressed so that they can provide better care, supporting the cancer patients that we serve.
In early 2020 we organized a four-month class for five oncology nurses in the Cancer Infusion Center teaching them Reiki as a self-care tool. We used the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RIS) as our pre-post measure, and evaluations using the CD-RIS showed an increase in the median resilience scores by the nurses at the end of the program. Feedback from the nurses was also very positive.
2022 Pilot Study with 14 oncology nurses
This led us to create a formal study, which was approved by COMIRB in late 2021. Fourteen oncology nurses from the Anschutz Cancer Center have completed the training (four months each for two cohorts). The study has been finished and the pre-post data with the CD-RIS suggests a positive effect.
Current study
We are planning a 60-90 nurse study with a similar design from above while adding employment retention questions to the study and extending the study over an 18-month period. We need 60 nurses for a large enough power for statistical significance, and an estimated 90 nurses to account for dropouts. We will recruit oncology nurses from several UCHealth hospitals and facilities. We are in the process of raising the funds needed to conduct this study.
Self-Reiki training for oncology nurses could offer a low-cost, sustainable method for improving nurse resilience, and may improve employment retention. Our current study would evaluate the effectiveness of this as a strategy.
