In a clinical trial, a sample of 57 cancer patients were given a new treatment for reduction of tumors. The tumors were reduced in 12 of these patients.
Two groups were chosen randomly from the 57 patients to see if a new method of postoperative care would lessen recovery time. One group (the treatment group), consisting of 14 patients, received "therapeutic touch" treatment from the nursing staff; the second group, with 13 patients (the control group), received only standard postoperative care. The average time to recovery in the treatment group was 2.7 days, with a standard deviation (S.D.) of 1.4 days. The mean and S.D. for the control group were 3.9 and 1.7 days.