The theory

This study tested the short-term effect of a very brief – just ten minutes!! – EFT group tapping for psychological distress. The participants were healthcare workers in the pediatric emergency wing of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

As New York City was a global epicenter for covid-19, hospitals had to quickly reorganize staff and reconfigure departmental spaces to manage the flow of patients. Emergency department staff often had to work longer hours or extra shifts to meet increased patient care demands. With EFT’s ability to downregulate stress, researchers thought this might be a valuable tool to help overwhelmed hospital staff deal with the intensity of the covid-19 pandemic.

The study setup

Data were collected with a self-report paper survey completed just before and right after the intervention. The research team developed this questionnaire to measure levels of short-term psychological distress.

The questionnaire included seven items of psychologic distress, including:

1.      Current level of stress

2.      Professional satisfaction

3.      Obsessive and/or intrusive thoughts

4.      Feelings of pressure (professional, societal, family)

5.      Physical pain

6.      Emotional pain

7.      Feelings of loneliness and isolation

The questionnaire used a five-point Likert scale. A score of one showed that a participant felt “none” of the item, and a score of five indicated an “extreme” level. 

Study results: ten minutes of tapping made a difference!

The only item that did not change was professional satisfaction. In all other areas – stress, obsessive and intrusive thoughts, feelings of pressure, loneliness, and emotional and physical pain – the impact of EFT was significant. In all cases, p < 0.001 (i.e., the probability that tapping did not cause the improvement is less than one in one thousand).

Why this study matters

Psychological wellbeing is important for all of us. Hospital staff were at increased risk for burnout during the pandemic. Moreover, patient care, or at the very least, patient satisfaction, could be negatively affected by staff burnout.

The researchers concluded that “despite the limitations of a single-arm study design, a 10-minute brief EFT tapping session was a promising way to reduce short-term psychologic distress in pediatric health care workers….”

One of the most outstanding findings of the study is the rapidity of the EFT intervention. In just ten-minute increments, staff experienced improvements in a wide range of symptoms.

Are you a clinician or stakeholder wanting to bring energy psychology to your community? Enroll in ACEP’s free R4R training. And stay up to date with the research on energy psychology here, or ask to be added to the research mailing list.

Bifano, S., Szeglin, C., Garbers, S. & Gold, M. (2024). Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) tapping for pediatric emergency department staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: Pandemic evaluation of a pilot intervention. Medical Acupuncture, 36(2), 70-78.

https://www.liebertpub.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1089%2Facu.2023.0099

Authors

Sarah Murphy, LPC, ACP-EFT, is a counselor in private practice and specializes in working with people who have serious illnesses. A student of the Ageless Wisdom, she is dedicated to sharing the Great Invocation.

John Freedom, CEHP, is in private practice in Santa Rosa, California. He serves as chair of ACEP’s research committee and as executive director of FREA. He is the author of Heal Yourself with Emotional Freedom Technique.