Effects of Acupuncture on Perceived Stress and Health in Military Service Members

Effects of Acupuncture on Perceived Stress and Health in Military Service Members and Veterans

The goal of this is to investigate the effect of a Manual Standardized Stress Acupuncture (MSSA) protocol as an adjunct treatment to a short-term mindfulness therapy for perceived stress and general health in service members (i.e., active duty military personnel and veterans).

The specific aims of this study are Aim 1) To evaluate the effectiveness of a brief MSSA as an adjunct treatment with a short-term Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) compared with MBSR alone for perceived stress and general health in service members. Aim 2) To describe any perceived benefits of MSSA as an adjunct treatment with MBSR compared with MBSR alone for perceived stress and general health.

Participants will be asked to complete an informed consent if eligible for the study and randomized into two groups: 1) Participants in the experimental group will receive MSSA in addition to MBSR. 2) Participants in the control group will receive MBSR only. Researchers will compare experimental and control groups to see if the interventions mitigated perceived stress and improved the health of the participants.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Perceived Stress
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Manual Standardized Stress Acupuncture (MSSA); Behavioral: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 86
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • San Diego, California, United States, 92134
      • Naval Medical Center, San Diego

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Active duty and veteran service members,
• 18 to 65 years of age, self-report of perceived stress symptoms for at least one month,
• a score of 16 or above on the PSS,
• stable on psychiatric and other medications including blood pressure agents for at least three months,
• agrees to participate in group psychotherapy (i.e., MBSR), and
• able to provide informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Recent surgery within one month,
• alcohol abuse or dependence diagnosis within one month,
• active substance use/abuse/dependency treatment within one month,
• pregnant women (acupuncture can result in an induction of labor and spontaneous abortion on rare occasions), and
• has had acupuncture treatment, dry needling, and MBSR provided by a provider in the past month.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Manual Standardized Stress Acupuncture (MSSA) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)	Procedure: Manual Standardized Stress Acupuncture (MSSA); Participants in the experimental group will receive 4 weekly sessions of MSSA, which consists of 8 acupuncture points: bilateral auricular (ear) shen men, GV- 20, GV-24.5 (Yin Tang), bilateral LI-4, and bilateral LR-3. Needles are left in situ for 30 minutes per session.; Behavioral: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR); Participants will receive four sessions of MBSR group psychotherapy (no more than 10 participants per group session) via Microsoft Teams. The first session will be 90 minutes followed by three 60-minute weekly sessions.
Active Comparator: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)	Behavioral: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR); Participants will receive four sessions of MBSR group psychotherapy (no more than 10 participants per group session) via Microsoft Teams. The first session will be 90 minutes followed by three 60-minute weekly sessions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)	The PSS is a 10-item scale used to evaluate perceived stress experience in adults. Perceived general stress is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from never to very often. The total possible scores for PSS range from 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating higher stress.	At baseline, at two weeks post interventions, and at four weeks post interventions

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Insomnia Severity Index	The ISI is a seven-item standardized self-report questionnaire that measures the subjective symptoms of insomnia. These subjective symptoms include the respondents' concerns and distress because of problems with sleep. The ISI measure contains seven items: perceived difficulty with sleep-onset, sleep maintenance, and early morning awakenings; satisfaction with sleep patterns; interference of sleep problems with daily functioning; impairment because of a sleep problem; and degree of distress or concern with the sleep problem. Each item in the ISI is rated from 0 to 4 whereby the higher number indicates more difficulty. The scores are added to yield a range of total scores from 0 to 28 in which a higher score suggests more severe insomnia.	At baseline, at two weeks post interventions, and at four weeks post interventions
The Short Form (SF) Health Survey	The 20-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-20) measures the multidimensional concept of health including perceptions about general health, physical health, mental health, and social functioning. Scores are transformed to a scale of 0 to 100 wherein high scores indicate better functioning.	At baseline, at two weeks post interventions, and at four weeks post interventions
Journal Log	Journal entries will include five open-ended questions about the participants' perceived benefits of treatment.	At weeks 2 and 4 after treatments have been completed.

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Blood Pressure (systolic and diastolic)	Blood pressures will be measured using a vital signs measuring device	Prior to each acupuncture session (experimental group only)
Heart Rate	Heart rate will be measured using a vital signs measuring device	Prior to each acupuncture session (experimental group only)
Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS)	The DVPRS measures pain from 0 (no pain) to 10 (as bad as it could be)	Prior to each acupuncture session and at the end of each acupuncture session (experimental group only)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: United States Naval Medical Center, San Diego
• Collaborators: University of California, San Francisco; TriService Nursing Research Program

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 31, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): October 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 8, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 17, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): September 21, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 28, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 26, 2026
• Last Verified: May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Mindfulness; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Other Study ID Numbers: NMCSD.2022.0054

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No