Questions Concerning the Work of Daniel P. Wirth

Solfvin, Jerry; Leskowitz, Eric; Benor, Daniel J.

doi:10.1089/acm.2005.11.949

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…We also had concerns that previous meta-analytic reviews 9,14,15 had included work conducted by Daniel P. Wirth that has since been discredited 23,24 and so we conducted an updated whole human analysis that omitted these studies and also included more recent publications. 25,26,27,28,29 The resulting combined effect size for the homogeneous sample was small, with r = .203, but significant (CI 95 = .180 to .232).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies

Roe

Sonnex

Roxburgh

2015

EXPLORE

122

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Reviews of empirical work on the efficacy of noncontact healing have found that interceding on behalf of patients through prayer or by adopting various practices that incorporate an intention to heal can have some positive effect upon their wellbeing. However, reviewers have also raised concerns about study quality and the diversity of healing approaches adopted, which makes the findings difficult to interpret. Some of these concerns can be addressed by adopting a standardised approach based on the double-blind randomised controlled clinical trial, and a recent review restricted to such studies has reported a combined effect size of .40 (p < .001). However, the studies in this review involve human participants for whom there can be no guarantee that control patients are not beneficiaries of healing intentions from friends, family or their own religious groups. We proposed to address this by reviewing healing studies that involved biological systems other than 'whole' humans (i.e. to include animal and plant work but also work involving human biological matter such as blood samples or cell cultures), which are less susceptible to placebo and expectancy effects and also allow for more circumscribed outcome measures. Secondly, doubts have been cast concerning the legitimacy of some of the work included in previous reviews so we planned to conduct an updated review that excluded that work. For phase 1, 49 non-whole human studies from 34 papers were eligible for review. The combined effect size weighted by sample size yielded a highly significant r of .258. However the effect sizes in the database were heterogeneous, and outcomes correlated with blind ratings of study quality. When restricted to studies that met minimum quality thresholds, the remaining 22 studies gave a reduced but still significant weighted r of .115. For phase 2, 57 whole human studies across 56 papers were eligible for review. When combined, these studies yielded a small effect size of r = .203 that was also significant. This database was also heterogeneous, and outcomes were correlated with methodological quality ratings. However, when restricted to studies that met threshold quality levels the weighted effect size for the 27 surviving studies increased to r = .224. Taken together these results suggest that subjects in the active condition exhibit a significant improvement in wellbeing relative to control subjects under circumstances that do not seem to be susceptible to placebo and expectancy effects. Findings with the whole human database gave a smaller mean effect size but this was still significant and suggests that the effect is not dependent upon the previous inclusion of suspect studies and is robust enough to accommodate some high profile failures to replicate. Both databases show problems with heterogeneity and with study quality and recommendations are made for necessary standards for future replication attempts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies

Roe

Sonnex

Roxburgh

2015

EXPLORE

122

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“…A widely referenced study from 1990 8 seemed to show that punch biopsies in healthy volunteers healed twice as rapidly when the patients received TT (even when they were blinded as to whether they received treatment or not). Some recent medical detective work I did with some colleagues 9 has questioned the validity of the data from that study, even though the experimental protocol was sound. Given that so many other studies of TT and related "energy" therapies are sound, it would be important to assess TT's possible efficacy in wound healing via a careful replication of this discredited study.…”

Section: Novel Directions In Wound Carementioning

confidence: 99%

Guest Editorial: Novel Directions in Wound Care: Hypnosis and Beyond

Leskowitz

2007

The International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds

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“…Unfortunately, CRCT neglects to emphasise the need to avoid such unethical researcher conduct. Conspicuously absent is any mention of Daniel Wirth, who apparently fabricated evidence in his prominently publicised distant‐healing research 4 …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical Research in Complementary Therapies: Principles, Problems and Solutions

London

2011

Focus on Alt & Comp Therapy

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Questions Concerning the Work of Daniel P. Wirth

Cited by 14 publications

References 0 publications

Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies

Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies

Guest Editorial: Novel Directions in Wound Care: Hypnosis and Beyond

Clinical Research in Complementary Therapies: Principles, Problems and Solutions

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