Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 12 Ji Chang Rd, Guangzhou, China.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2014 Sep 21;14:345. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-14-345.
Acupuncture is an effective complement to pharmacological therapy in the alleviation of chronic pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). It has mild or no side effects; however, a minimum of 3 months of therapy is required to guarantee a beneficial outcome. This study investigates why patients insist on acupuncture therapy to aid recuperation.
The study included a purposive sample of 15 participants diagnosed with chronic PID who had received a course of acupuncture therapy at least twice a week for a minimum of 3 months. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed using systematic text condensation.
Four overarching themes were identified from the participants' reasons for insisting on lengthy, but in their view important, acupuncture courses. The four overarching themes were: (1) the patients' characteristics, including pregnancy aspiration and the fear of serious gynecological disease; (2) the patient-practitioner relationship, including the acupuncturist's attitude towards the patients and the explanation of the disease from a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) perspective; (3) the characteristics of acupuncture, including the diversification of treatment modes, the synthetical effect, and no side-effects; and (4) the clinical environment, including the exchange of experience between patients and the well-equipped setting.
There were mixed reasons for patients diagnosed with chronic PID maintaining acupuncture treatments. Knowledge and understanding about the acupuncture-disease relationship were conducive to the patients' preference for acupuncture. Acupuncture as a complement to Western medicine should be further developed while maintaining these positive features. Participants reported feeling hope, confidence, and a sense of responsibility for their treatment during the process, although the treatments did not always have the expected outcome.
针灸是缓解慢性盆腔炎（PID）的有效药物治疗补充方法。它具有轻度或无副作用，但需要至少 3 个月的治疗才能保证有益的效果。本研究调查了为什么患者坚持针灸治疗以帮助康复。
本研究纳入了 15 名被诊断为慢性 PID 的患者，他们至少每周接受两次针灸治疗，持续至少 3 个月。采用半结构式访谈，对参与者进行访谈、录音、转录、编码和分析，使用系统文本压缩法。
从参与者坚持长时间但在他们看来重要的针灸疗程的原因中，确定了四个总体主题。这四个总体主题是：（1）患者的特征，包括怀孕的愿望和对严重妇科疾病的恐惧；（2）医患关系，包括针灸师对患者的态度以及从中医角度对疾病的解释；（3）针灸的特点，包括治疗模式的多样化、综合效应和无副作用；（4）临床环境，包括患者之间的经验交流和设备齐全的环境。
被诊断为慢性 PID 的患者坚持针灸治疗的原因复杂多样。对针灸与疾病关系的了解有助于患者对针灸的偏好。针灸作为西药的补充，应在保持这些积极特征的同时进一步发展。参与者在治疗过程中报告感到希望、信心和对治疗的责任感，尽管治疗并不总是达到预期的效果。
