Author: Schroeder S1, Burnis J2, Denton A2, Krasnow A2, Raghu TS2, Mathis K2
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>ASU Health Services, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. Electronic address: stefanie.schroeder@asu.edu.
<sup>2</sup>ASU Health Services, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Conference/Journal: J Acupunct Meridian Stud.
Date published: 2017 Jun
Other:
Volume ID: 10 , Issue ID: 3 , Pages: 165-170 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.jams.2017.01.002. Epub 2017 Jan 16. , Word Count: 219
This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial to study the effectiveness of acupuncture on the perception of stress in patients who study or work on a large, urban college campus. The hypothesis was that verum acupuncture would demonstrate a significant positive impact on perceived stress as compared to sham acupuncture. This study included 111 participants with high self-reported stress levels who either studied or worked at a large, urban public university in the southwestern United States. However, only 62 participants completed the study. The participants were randomized into a verum acupuncture or sham acupuncture group. Both the groups received treatment once a week for 12 weeks. The Cohen's global measure of perceived stress scale (PSS-14) was completed by each participant prior to treatment, at 6 weeks, at 12 weeks, and 6 weeks and 12 weeks post-treatment completion. While participants of both the groups showed a substantial initial decrease in perceived stress scores, at 12 weeks post treatment, the verum acupuncture group showed a significantly greater treatment effect than the sham acupuncture group. This study indicates that acupuncture may be successful in decreasing the perception of stress in students and staff at a large urban university, and this effect persists for at least 3 months after the completion of treatment.
Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.
KEYWORDS: acupuncture; college students; liver qi stagnation; stress
PMID: 28712475 DOI: 10.1016/j.jams.2017.01.002