Therapeutic touch (TT) is a treatment that takes an average of 15-20 min, in which energy in the universe is transferred through the hands of the practitioner to eliminate the imbalance in the individual's energy field and facilitate healing. The intervention group (TT group) received therapeutic touch for 10 minutes a day for five consecutive days. The practice was implemented in line with Therapeutic Practice Procedure.

Placebo: Sham Therapeutic Touch (STT) The control group was administered STT instead of TT for 10 minutes for successive 5 days. The practice was implemented in line with Sham Therapeutic Touch Practice Procedure (STTPP).

Therapeutic Touch performed in line with the Therapeutic Touch Practice Procedure included the following steps: centering, assessing, rebalancing, reassessing, reexamining, grounding, and closure.

The Turkish version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which was developed by Buyssee et al. (1989), was used for the assessment of sleep quality. It is a self-report scale that makes a quantitative assessment of sleep quality and sleep disorders over a one-month time interval [30]. Turkish reliability and validity of the scale were performed by Ağargün et al. in our country (1996) [31]. The scale is composed of 18 items and seven sub-scales, which include Subjective Sleep Quality, Sleep Latency, Sleep Duration, Habitual Sleep Efficiency, Sleep Disorders, Use of Sleeping Drugs, and Daytime Dysfunction. Each item is scored between 0 and 3. The total score of the seven sub-scales gives the PSQI score. Scores to be obtained from the scale range between 0 and 21. A total score greater than 5 indicates "poor sleep quality." Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient of the PSQI was reported 0,804 in the Turkish adaptation of the scale [31].

The Turkish version of the Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS) was utilized to assess fatigue. PFS was developed by Barbara F. Piper et al. in 1987 [32]. Turkish reliability and validity of the scale were performed by Can et al. (2001) [33]. The scale responded on a 5-point Likert scale has 22 items and four sub-scales and it aims to assess individuals' subjective perceptions about fatigue. The sub-scales are Behavioral/Severity, Affective Meaning, Sensory, and Cognitive /Mood. Calculation of the sub-scale scores is done by summing all the items in that sub-scale and dividing it by the number of items. Higher scores indicate higher fatigue levels. Total Cronbach's alpha value was reported to be 0,99 in the Turkish reliability and validity of the scale [33].