Paper
Thursday, July 12, 2007
A 6-Week Acupoint Stimulation Intervention for Smoking Cessation: Randomization and Sham Group
Mei-Ling Yeh, PhD, RN1, Chiu-Yuan CHang, MSN, RN1, and Hsing-Hsia Chen, PhD2. (1) Nursing Department, National Taipei College of Nursing, Taipei, Taiwan, (2) Applied Mathematics, Chung-Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| Learning Objective #1: understand the effects of the acupoint stimulation on smoking cessation.
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| Learning Objective #2: know the issues of the shame group used in the study of acupoint stimulation.
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This study aimed to create a 6-week acupoint stimulation program for quitting smoking and then evaluated its effects. A randomized-controlled trial was conducted. Total 59 smokers volunteered to participate and were randomly assigned to the experimental or sham group. The experimental group was given anti-smoking acupoint for 6 week, whereas the sham group used sham acupoint. All participants completed questionnaires and offered blood samples before and after the intervention. The result of this study showed no significant differences in the serum level of cotinine and carbon monoxide exhalation between the two groups. A quit rate of 13.3% was found in the experimental group and 13.7% in the sham group. However, daily consumption of tobacco was 10 cigarettes in the experimental group and 11.21 cigarettes in the sham group. To examine the quitting effect by using acupoint stimulation in adult smokers, more evidence-base research on the exact effect or placebo effect of acupoint stimulation and the design of appropriateness for sham acupoint is needed.