Effects of an integrative treatment, therapeutic acupuncture and conventional treatment in alleviating psychological distress in primary care patients--a pragmatic randomized controlled trial

Anxiety Communication Notes-A Tool to Facilitate Anxiety Management and Improve the Nurse-Patient Relationship in Mental Health Nursing

Mental health care tends to be dominated by a biomedical perspective at the expense of a more recovery-oriented approach. Research on nurse-led interventions intended to strengthen the patient's ability to manage anxiety is sparse in this context. The aim of this study was to describe nurses' experiences of the use of anxiety communication notes in nursing patients experiencing anxiety in mental health inpatient care. Data were collected by interviewing twelve nurses working in two mental health inpatient care wards in southwestern Sweden. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings showed that the use of anxiety communication notes was perceived to provide a nursing structure to foster the development and practice of adaptive anxiety management through a visual representation for mutual understanding of the patient's anxiety pattern. The nurses could also use the anxiety communication notes to support nurse-patient communication and facilitate increased participation and empowerment in the patients' anxiety management.

Complementary and Integrative Medicine and Eating Disorders in Youth: Traditional Yoga, Virtual Reality, Light Therapy, Neurofeedback, Acupuncture, Energy Psychology Techniques, Art Therapies, and Spirituality

Eating disorders (EDs) are a non-heterogeneous group of illnesses with significant physical and mental comorbidity and mortality associated with maladaptive coping. With the exception of lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) for binge eating disorder, no medications have been effective for the core symptoms of ED. ED requires a multimodal approach. Complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) can be helpful as an adjunct. The most promising CIM interventions are traditional yoga, virtual reality, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, Music Therapy, and biofeedback/neurofeedback.

Ear acupuncture as an adjunct in a treatment protocol for anorexia nervosa: utilization rate and nurses' experience

BACKGROUND

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a life-threatening illness. Sometimes long inpatient treatment is necessary, increasing the anxiety that comes with hospitalization and the necessary weight gain. Safe, non-pharmacological adjunctive therapies that improve subjective health are called for.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this non-randomized, mixed-methods observational study was to describe the utilization rate and nurses' experiences of ear acupuncture in a highly specialized clinic for eating disorders in Sweden, in which acupuncture had been implemented as part of routine clinical care. Twenty-five patients with AN-treated voluntarily or by law were included. The semi-standardized National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) ear acupuncture protocol, sometimes combined with needling at 2 traditional acupuncture point locations on the body, had been implemented as a voluntary adjunct to usual care, twice weekly. To evaluate the acceptance of acupuncture, the study examined how often patients chose acupuncture when offered on schedule, and how often they asked for extra acupuncture sessions. Patients rated their subjective health using the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and visual analogue scale (VAS), treatment satisfaction with usual care and acupuncture, and health-related quality of life with the RAND36 instrument. A credibility/expectancy questionnaire (CEQ) was used to measure confidence in treatment. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated to follow the patients' recovery. Nurses' experiences of giving acupuncture as a part of routine care were captured in interviews, and analysed with content analysis. Ethical approval was obtained.

RESULTS

Despite an initially moderate level of trust in acupuncture, the utilization rate of the scheduled acupuncture was 89% and patients asked for extra acupuncture sessions on 28 occasions. No serious side effects were reported. Nurses' experiences of providing acupuncture were positive. They were generally enthusiastic, although they reported finding it difficult to organize group treatments and to find time for acupuncture sessions if they were not scheduled.

CONCLUSION

Further research into the effectiveness and costs of acupuncture in psychiatric care is needed. This study provides relevant information for clinicians as well as researchers planning future randomized controlled trials.

Pilot randomized sham-controlled trial of self-acupressure to manage the symptom cluster of insomnia, depression, and anxiety in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy

PURPOSE

Current evidence for using self-acupressure to manage the cancer-related symptom cluster of insomnia, depression, and anxiety, while promising, is unknown. This study evaluated the feasibility of self-acupressure to manage this symptom cluster and to explore its potential effectiveness.

METHODS

Participants were assigned randomly to three study groups, namely the true acupressure (TAP), the sham acupressure (SAP), and the enhanced standard care group (ESC). Participants in the TAP and SAP groups received a training session on acupressure and were required to practice self-acupressure at home once per day for 28 days. The duration of participant involvement was 8 weeks. Patients completed a Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) for each symptom, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2, week 4), and post follow-up (T3, week 8).

RESULTS

The results indicated that the intervention had clinical significance in improving the targeted symptoms and quality of life. In the TAP group, the symptom cluster severity was significantly lower than in the other groups at T2 (p < 0.05). The insomnia severity and anxiety scores in the TAP and SAP groups were significantly lower than those in ESC at T2 and T3 (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The trial was feasible. The promising results of the study suggest that further testing of self-acupressure is warranted to inform its effectiveness on the targeted symptom cluster in patients with cancer. A placebo effect was evident alongside therapeutic effects.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov (ID: NCT03823456) on January 30th, 2019.

The feasibility of acupuncture as an adjunct intervention for antenatal depression: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Antenatal depression is common and associated with adverse consequences for mothers, babies, and future generations. Limitations with conventional approaches has resulted in additional therapies being considered. This study examined the feasibility and effectiveness of acupuncture for improving mental health.

METHODS

Fifty-seven pregnant women with depressive symptomologies were randomised to acupuncture (n=19) plus treatment as usual (TAU), progressive muscle relaxation (PMR, n=19) plus TAU or TAU (n=19). Treatments were conducted from 24 to 31 weeks gestation. Clinical assessments were performed throughout the intervention, as well as at a six-week postnatal follow-up. The primary outcome measure was depression. Secondary outcome measurements were stress, anxiety, psychological distress, quality of life and adjustment to mothering. Intention to treat (ITT), Linear Mixed Model (LMM) repeated measures and per protocol (PP) analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

At end-of-intervention there were significantly lower depression scores in the acupuncture group versus TAU and PMR respectively [ITT p<0.001, mean difference (MD) -5.84 (95% CI -9.10 to -2.58); MD -3.42 (95% CI -6.64 to -0.20)]. LMM repeated measures analysis (including postnatal follow-up) also demonstrated significantly lowered acupuncture group scores for stress (p=0.006) and psychological distress (p<0.001) when compared to PMR and TAU. Between group differences were not significant at six-weeks postnatal. No adverse events were reported.

LIMITATIONS

Main limitations are small sample size and the use of self-reported outcome measures.

CONCLUSION

Prenatal acupuncture reduced depression, stress and distress, whilst also being well-tolerated and free from adverse events. Further research is warranted.

Getting Well Is More Than Gaining Weight - Patients' Experiences of a Treatment Program for Anorexia Nervosa Including Ear Acupuncture

This study illuminates how 25 in-patients who were treated for anorexia nervosa in a highly specialized clinic for eating disturbances in Sweden experienced the treatment program. The program included structured eating, medication, restrictions in physical activity and supportive dialogues. Patients were also offered semi-standardized NADA ear acupuncture as a complement to relieve stress, anxiety and tension. In total, 46 interviews were analysed qualitatively using latent content analysis. The results showed how participants strived with their slow transition towards recovery. The novelty of integrating acupuncture in psychiatric treatment makes this study interesting. Acupuncture was experienced to relieve anxiety and somatic symptoms through the whole process. Further research is needed to evaluate the effect of acupuncture on the patient's subjective sense of well-being when used as an adjunct to usual care.

Effects from acupuncture in treating anxiety: integrative review

OBJECTIVE

to evaluate the scientific evidence that is available in the literature on the effects of acupuncture for treating anxiety and on the quality of such studies.

METHOD

the study is an integrative review of CINAHL, LILACS, PUBMED-PICO, SciELO, and The Cochrane Library between 2001 and 2014. Keywords anxiety, acupuncture therapy, acupuncture, and anxiety disorders were combined among themselves to ensure a wide search of primary studies.

RESULTS

among 514 articles, 67 were selected to be fully read and 19 were included. Among these, 11 were found to have strong evidence levels. Among the six articles about randomized clinical studies, five were found to be of reasonable quality. Two studies used acupuncturist nurses to perform their interventions. Its results showed positive and statistically significant effects from using acupuncture for treating subjects with anxiety.

CONCLUSION

acupuncture seems to be a promising treatment for anxiety; however, there is a need for improving the methodological quality of the research on this field.

Morbidity pattern of traditional Chinese medicine primary care in the Hong Kong population

Primary care manages >90% of illnesses requiring medical services in Hong Kong, in which 9,513 registered Chinese medicine practitioners (CMPs) provide 8.2% of the consultations. This is the first study aimed to determine the morbidity pattern in different Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) primary care settings in Chinese population. 55,312 patients’ encounters were classified by the International Classification of Primary Care-2 (ICPC-2) from 260 of CMPs. Mean patient age was 50.5 years, with more females than males (67.0% vs 33.0%). Most patients consulted CMPs for chronic (64% vs 33.7%) rather than acute conditions. Among the 30% of patients, hypertension (49.5%) or diabetes (18.5%) were the most common co-morbidity. The most common problems presenting to CMP were respiratory (24.9%), musculoskeletal complaints (22.7%), cough (11.7%), and lower back pain (6.6%). To our knowledge, this was the first study permitting direct comparison with that presenting to Western medicine (WM) primary care by ICPC-2 systems. The results confirmed the role of CMP in primary care for musculoskeletal or chronic illnesses that they may have also received conventional WM treatment. We recommend greater effort and more resources should be invested to promote interdisciplinary communication to ensure safety and synergy of TCM and WM in primary care.

Creating an Opportunity to Reflect: Ear Acupuncture in Anorexia Nervosa - Inpatients' Experiences

The aim of this study was to elucidate the meaning of receiving acupuncture as a complement in the treatment of anorexia nervosa at a specialist unit. Nine inpatients were interviewed, one to three times. The sixteen interviews were analysed with a phenomenological hermeneutic method. The main theme found was "Creating a pause, a framework for rest and reflection." The participants described acupuncture to be an attractive part of the treatment, offering a pause in a very stressful situation. The relaxing effect was palpable. They described unusual calmness and a meditative state allowing them to think clearly and to reflect, and also positive physical sensations like getting warm. Anxiety decreased and gaining weight became easier to endure. Participants appreciated acupuncture as an optional treatment that they could influence. The given frame for reflection allowed processing emotions, releasing control and seeing themselves as capable to relax. Where symptoms are intense and pharmacological treatments have modest effect, like in anorexia nervosa, adjunctive therapies that help manage symptoms deserve greater attention.

Understanding persons with psychological distress in primary health care

The purpose of this study was to gain more knowledge and a deeper understanding of experiences of persons living with psychological distress who seek help in primary care. Psychological distress is a state of emotional suffering associated with stressors and demands that are difficult to cope with in daily life. The lack of effective care for and difficulty in identifying psychological distress is frustrating for patients and health professionals alike. The aim was therefore to gain more knowledge about the experience of living with psychological distress. Twelve persons (nine women and three men) aged 23-51 years were interviewed. Analyses were based on a phenomenological hermeneutic method and indicated that psychological distress may be seen as an imbalance (incongruence) between the self and the ideal self, which slowly breaks down a person's self-esteem. This imbalance was described in three dimensions: Struggling to cope with everyday life, Feeling inferior to others and Losing one's grip on life. It seems to be associated with a gradual depletion of existential capacities and lead to dissatisfaction, suffering, poor self-esteem and lack of control. As psychological distress may be a forerunner to mental, physical and emotional exhaustion, there is a need to initiate preventive or early interventions to avoid mental, physical and emotional chaos in such patients. Patients' with psychological distress need to be involved in a person-centred salutogenic dialogue with health professionals to become aware of and strengthen their own capacities to regain health and well-being.

[The primary screening of patients with autonomic disorders in outpatient clinics in Russia (START1) using the Russian version of The Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ)]

OBJECTIVE

To develop an effective diagnostic algorithm for detection of a mental component in the state of patients diagnosed with autonomic nervous system disorder.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In the frames of START1 epidemiological study, we examined 6633 patients with autonomic nervous system disorders (ICD-10 G.90.8 and G90.9) and somatoform disorders (F45) including 18,8% patients who got a referral to a psychiatrist. A linguistically validated Russian version of The Dutch Four-Dimensional Symptoms Questionnaire (4DSQ) was tested in domain subpopulations.

RESULTS

In subpopulations of anxiety and depression, more than 26% of the patients got a referral to a psychiatrist that indirectly supported the assumption on the conformity of 4DSQ to the purposes of primary screening of four-dimensional disorders in the general population of patients with autonomic nervous system disorders.

CONCLUSION

The linguistically validated Russian version of 4DSQ enabled to formalize the description of clinical profile of these patients. Cluster analysis of the results allowed to single out two superdomains by the pairwise combination somatization with distress (SDis) and anxiety with depression (ADep). The detection of superdomain SDis appears to be a population specific characteristic of autonomic nervous system disorders in the Russian Federation.

Quality of life, sense of coherence and experiences with three different treatments in patients with psychological distress in primary care: a mixed-methods study

Background

Psychological distress is associated with impaired health-related quality of life (HRQL) and poor sense of coherence (SOC). In a previous study, we found that therapeutic acupuncture (TA) and an integrative treatment that combined TA with person-centred approach in a salutogenic dialogue (IT) alleviated anxiety and depression significantly more than conventional treatment (CT) in primary care patients. Here, we report on secondary analyses regarding the HRQL and SOC from that previous pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Method

Quantitative and qualitative design. One hundred twenty patients were referred for psychological distress. Quantitative analyses were performed at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment using the SF-36 mental component summary (MCS), physical component summary (PCS) and the Sense of Coherence-13 (SOC) questionnaires. Qualitative manifest content analyses were based on open-ended questions—“Have you experienced any changes since the start of the treatment? Will you describe these changes?”

Results

No baseline differences were found. At 8 weeks, both the IT and TA groups had statistically better scores and greater improvement from baseline on the MCS and SOC than the CT group. The effect sizes were large. No significant differences were found between the IT and TA groups or in relation to the PCS. SOC was highly correlated with the MCS but not with the PCS. Dropout rates were low.

The experiences of the intervention resulted in four categories: Being heading back; Status quo; Feeling confirmed; and Feeling abandoned, with 13 related subcategories.

Conclusion

IT and TA seem to improve sense of coherence and mental health status in primary care patients with psychological distress, whereas CT appears to be less beneficial. IT and TA appear to be well-accepted and may serve as useful adjunct treatment modalities to standard primary care. Our results are consistent with much of the previous research in highlighting a strong relationship between SOC and mental health status. The written qualitative data described feeling confirmed and feeling increased self-efficacy, self-care and faith in the future. Those in the CT group, however, described feeling abandoned, missing treatment and experiencing increased emotional and physical problems. More research is needed.

Trial registration

ISRCTN trial number NCT01631500.

Randomised controlled trial on the use of acupuncture in adults with chronic, non-responding anxiety symptoms

BACKGROUND

A group of adults can be identified with chronic non-responding anxiety symptoms who have repeatedly accessed treatments through their GP, such as cognitive behaviour therapy, bibliotherapy and medication, but with no effect. These patients make heavy use of health service resources with no beneficial outcome. This study aims to test the effect of an acupuncture formula of three specific acupuncture points, suggested in a previous pilot study.

METHOD

40 participants from a psychiatry waiting list were randomised into one of two groups: group 1 (n=25) received 10 weeks of acupuncture at PC6, HT7 and LR3, and group 2 was a waiting list control group. The waiting list group (n=15) then received acupuncture. Both groups were followed up for 10 weeks after treatment. The outcome measure was the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory.

RESULTS

36 patients completed the study, with two dropouts in each group. State anxiety scores in the acupuncture group decreased from 57.7 (SD 13.1) to 38.8 (12.0); scores in the waiting list control group decreased from 61.5 (11.6) to 60.6 (11.7). The difference was highly significant (p<0.0001). Similar changes were seen for trait anxiety scores. The control group showed similar statistically significant improvements when they received acupuncture. The improvements were maintained after 10 weeks of follow-up in each group.

CONCLUSIONS

Acupuncture is a promising intervention for patients with chronic anxiety symptoms that have proven resistant to other forms of treatment.

Six-month effects of integrative treatment, therapeutic acupuncture and conventional treatment in alleviating psychological distress in primary care patients--follow up from an open, pragmatic randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

To evaluate and compare 6-month effects of 8 weeks of an integrative treatment (IT), therapeutic acupuncture (TA), and conventional treatment (CT) in reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression and in improving health-related quality of life (HRQL) and sense of coherence (SOC) in psychologically distressed primary care patients.

METHODS

Patients who had participated in an open, pragmatic randomized controlled trial were followed up six months after treatment. The study sample consisted of 120 adults (40 per treatment arm) aged 20 to 55 years referred from four different primary health care centres in western Sweden for psychological distress. Assessments were made at baseline after eight weeks and after 24 weeks. Anxiety and depression were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS), HRQL with the SF-36 Mental Component Summary scores (MCS) and SOC with the Sense of Coherence-13 questionnaire.

RESULTS

No baseline differences were found between groups on any outcome variable. At 24 weeks, IT and TA had significantly better values than CT on all variables. All three groups showed significant improvements from baseline on all variables, except HAD depression in CT; however, improvements were significantly greater in IT and TA than in CT. IT and TA did not differ on any outcome variable. Effect sizes were large in IT and TA for all variables and small or moderate in CT. Improvements on all variables seen after 8-weeks of IT and TA remained stable at 24 weeks and the CT group improved on HAD anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

IT and TA seem to be more beneficial than CT in reducing anxiety, depression, and in improving quality of life and sense of coherence after 24 weeks of follow up in patients with psychological distress. More research is needed to confirm these results.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ISRCTN trial number NCT01631500.