BackgroundHolistic nursing, CAM and the role of "touch" The concept of holism for a person is to view their body as a container of emotions and experiences (Sointu, 2013). Holistic care involves both the meaning of the patient's diagnosed illness, as well as their overall well-being and life circumstances, also called a set of “complementary and alternative therapies” (Jaimet, 2012). Bishop and Lewith (2010) reviewed 110 articles and found that populations who suffer from chorionic health problems and are dissatisfied with conventional medicine appear more likely to be CAM users; and the use of CAM is not necessarily limited to life-threatening diseases. Furthermore, Davidson's (2005) study in Ireland indicates that the use of complementary therapy is not associated with higher levels of psychopathology and distress; Rather, CAM users demonstrated mental adaptation to cancer and satisfaction of their psychological needs. Touch is a form of alternative and complementary healing practice that is used in a variety of ways (Leder & Krucoff, 2008) and is considered to capture the holistic nature of nursing (Hallett, 2004).Touch in holistic nursing and the philosophy behind touchThe notion Awareness is rooted in the field of holistic health, and touch could facilitate potential healing awareness through recognition of clients' embodied identity (Sointu, 2013). Due to the long contact time with patients, hospital nurses are often cited as referrals to this potential healing service (Lorenc et al., 2010). Touch can evoke a full range of human emotions, from hatred to the most intimate romantic relationship, through the skin's communication system, messages received from the external environment are delivered...... middle of paper . .....research on tactile touchResearch The flaws identified from these studies are subjective scales for measuring stress level, disturbances in the external environment, and small sample size. The results of these studies should therefore be interpreted as provisional. As recognized by Henricson et al. (2009), different data collectors, inability to blind the intervention group, and confounding influences of different meditations pose a threat to the validity and reliability of the studies. Furthermore, the immediate measurement of parameters after the end of the intervention confirms the need for long-term observation (Homayouni et al., 2012). This view is confirmed by the phenomenological study of Henricson et al. (2009), in which patients expressed negative feelings of abandonment and feeling alone again after the sessions ended, and expected further continuation..