I say it is true.
I have several hives and an observation hive.
When I take the observation hive apart for any reason, it takes the bees up to three days to fix it back to the way they want it. What is worse is that during the first 2 days the bees are ignoring the SHB's. They walk around, undisturbed, like they own the hive and lay their eggs like crazy. On the third day the bees are pulling SHB's, eggs and SHB larvae out of the hive in a mad dash to save the hive. If there are not enough bees to handle them, the SHB's take over and slime the hive.
This does not happen if there is only minor disturbance. A good reason to always put the frames back the way they were unless you are intentionally manipulating the hive.