Depression Symptom Reduction with Acupuncture Applications: Quasi-Experimental Pre-Post Test Design

Acupuncture involves the insertion of emaciated needles into the skin at specific pressure points distributed on the 12 primary meridians and eight extraordinary meridians to treat health conditions. First introduced to the US in 1971, acupuncture has become a form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with claimed efficacy in non-pain treatment (Hmwe, 2015; Ng & Yiu, 2013). It has increasingly been used as a treatment method adjunct to social work intervention, but evidence has not been systematically documented.

This presentation documents the comparative pre-post acupuncture results with 62 patients randomly selected from a large data set collected at an acupuncture clinic in a Southern state. The patients were assessed with a depression measure at intake but treated with acupuncture for their primary complaint that was pain-related. This study aims to establish evidence on using acupuncture as a treatment method that is socially acceptable to patients faced with mental health issues.

Method

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval was obtained to collaborate with an acupuncture college where clinical teaching and services are provided. From a client record of 923 patients treated in the clinic from 2015-2016, staff used systematic randomization to select 195 charts and found usable data from 119 subjects (61%). This data set includes demographics, information on 150 possible symptoms or conditions, and Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-25) on depression. HSCL-25 data were available for 62 patients both at baseline (T1) and 6-month or higher after the first treatment session (T2).

Although depression was not the presenting problem for treatment reason (as patients typically sought acupuncture for pain release), 11 depression acu-points were used on patient charts. For analysis purposes, data from these 62 patients included a Treatment Group (at least one depression-treatment acu-point applied) and a Control Group (no depression acu-point applied). Treatment point data were recorded to indicate intensity and frequency of treatment.

Findings

Among these 62 patients, 51 were female; 38.7% were married.  Mean age was 46.06 years (sd=14.27). Most patients were non-Asians: 94.2% identified English as preferred language. No significant differences were found between Treatment and experimental groups.

In the within-group data, 68.2% in T1 as compared to 63% in T2 of the Experimental Group patients had depression symptoms. In contrast, of the Comparison Group patients, 31.8% in T1 as compared to 37% in T2 had depression symptoms. Without the depression acu-point application, the Comparison Group had an increase in depression prevalence by 5.2% after six months. After depression acu-points were applied, the Treatment Group had a reduction of depression prevalence by 5.2%.  

Implications

This study suggests that when working with patients without a complaint of depression, treatment planning based on depression evaluation is important. This presentation demonstrates the use of a depression screening inventory to support the use of alternative treatment during depression intervention. This study has limitations with a small sample size due to the use of secondary data without a presenting problem on depression. With a cultural perspective, social workers can use data to discuss alternative treatment methods equally accessible to all patients.