The Effects of the Auricular Acupressure for Smoking Cessation in Outpatients

• Main Authors: Yun-Wen Li, 李韻雯
• Other Authors: Mei-Ling Yeh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/34103360322446810178

碩士 === 國立台北護理學院 === 護理研究所 === 98 === Tobacco smoking is an important cause in morbidity and mortality worldwide. Smokers who quit in early age will decrease the burdens of smoking-related diseases and prolong life expectancy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the auricular acupressure combined with nicotine therapy in smoking outpatients. The hypotheses tested the significant differences between experimental group and control groups in exhaled CO concentration, cotinine concentration, smoking quit rate, nicotine dependent, self-efficacy, nicotine withdrawal in smoking cessation. An experimental research design was used. Subjects randomly assigned into either the experimental group or control. The former were received an 4-week course of auricular acupressure and smoking cessation therapy, whereas the latter received an 4-week course of smoking cessation therapy only. Data was collected three times during the period of intervention. Forty-six subjects were recruited from three hospitals. The measures used in this study were the CO concentration, the cotinine concentration in urine analysis, a smoking quit rate, the Fagerstrom nicotine dependent questionnaire, the scales tested were the Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale, and the self-efficacy questionnaire in smoking cessation. Data was analyzed by using the descriptive analysis, the chi-square test, the independent t-test and the mixed model in terms of SPSS 18.0 for Window. Results showed that :(1) the effects of smoking cessation on physical and psychological factors in each groups were demonstrated, but no statistically existed significance between the groups; (2) the smoking cessation rate for the experimental group was higher than the control group at 4 weeks (42.9% vs. 35.3%) and at 8 weeks (57.1% vs. 50%); (3) the effect revealed when the participants pressed the seeds as they experienced cravings for smoking.The intervention of this study could be applied to the treatment reference in clinical smoking cessation. The future study should increase samples size, and acupressure compliance in participants to confirm effectiveness of auricular acupressure.