Brass Mandy, Charlesworth Karen
Department of Advanced Oriental Medicine, Northern College of Acupuncture, York, UK.
Dimbleby Cancer Care, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
Support Care Cancer. 2025 Feb 10;33(3):171. doi: 10.1007/s00520-025-09226-x.
Acupuncture for cancer care is safe and effective and can be provided in group or individual settings. Previously, group acupuncture (GA) has been compared with individual acupuncture (IA) for specific cancer-related symptoms or patient experience, but has not correlated symptoms with patient experience between GA and IA. This service evaluation, using a mixed-methods design, aimed to compare GA with IA for symptom-related outcomes, and patients experience and explore their inter-relationships, in order to inform future development of the service.
Cancer patients referred to the acupuncture service in a UK NHS hospital received six treatments of GA or IA. Outcomes were gathered using Measure Yourself Concerns and Wellbeing (MYCaW) questionnaires pre- and post-treatment. Experience of acupuncture was gathered post-treatment using a questionnaire and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
Forty-eight participants' data were analysed. There were statistically significant improvements in outcomes overall, with no difference between GA and IA. Most participants had a positive experience; IA participants focused more on the relationship with their acupuncturist, whilst GA participants focused more on environmental factors. For a few GA participants, the group experience was negative, but data synthesis revealed this did not impact symptom-related outcomes.
In both GA and IA arms, symptom-related outcomes mostly improved alongside a positive experience. For those participants for whom GA was not an ideal setting, there was no effect on symptom-related outcomes. These results may be of relevance when establishing acupuncture services in supportive cancer care settings.
用于癌症护理的针灸是安全有效的，可在团体或个体环境中进行。此前，已针对特定癌症相关症状或患者体验将团体针灸（GA）与个体针灸（IA）进行了比较，但尚未比较GA和IA之间症状与患者体验的相关性。这项采用混合方法设计的服务评估旨在比较GA和IA在症状相关结局、患者体验方面的差异，并探索它们之间的相互关系，以便为该服务的未来发展提供参考。
在英国一家国民保健服务（NHS）医院接受针灸服务转诊的癌症患者接受了6次GA或IA治疗。治疗前后使用“自我评估担忧与幸福感”（MYCaW）问卷收集结局数据。治疗后使用问卷收集针灸体验，并采用反思性主题分析法进行分析。
分析了48名参与者的数据。总体结局有统计学意义的改善，GA和IA之间无差异。大多数参与者有积极的体验；IA参与者更关注与针灸师的关系，而GA参与者更关注环境因素。对于少数GA参与者来说，团体体验是负面的，但数据综合分析显示这并未影响症状相关结局。
在GA和IA组中，症状相关结局大多随着积极体验而改善。对于那些认为GA不是理想环境的参与者，对症状相关结局没有影响。这些结果在支持性癌症护理环境中建立针灸服务时可能具有参考价值。
