Journal article
Predicting adherence to acupuncture appointments for low back pain: a prospective observational study.
- Abstract:
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Background
Acupuncture is a popular form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), but it is not clear why patients do (or do not) follow acupuncturists’ treatment recommendations. This study aimed to investigate theoretically-derived predictors of adherence to acupuncture.
Methods
In a prospective study, adults receiving acupuncture for low back pain completed validated questionnaires at baseline, 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. Patients and acupuncturists reported attendance. Logistic regression tested whether illness perceptions, treatment beliefs, and treatment appraisals measured at 2 weeks predicted attendance at all recommended acupuncture appointments.
Results
Three hundred twenty-four people participated (aged 18–89 years, M = 55.9, SD = 14.4; 70% female). 165 (51%) attended all recommended acupuncture appointments. Adherence was predicted by appraising acupuncture as credible, appraising the acupuncturist positively, appraising practicalities of treatment positively, and holding pro-acupuncture treatment beliefs. A multivariable logistic regression model including demographic, clinical, and psychological predictors, fit the data well (χ2 (21) = 52.723, p < .001), explained 20% of the variance, and correctly classified 65.4% of participants as adherent/non-adherent.
Conclusions
The results partially support the dynamic extended common-sense model for CAM use. As hypothesised, attending all recommended acupuncture appointments was predicted by illness perceptions, treatment beliefs, and treatment appraisals. However, experiencing early changes in symptoms did not predict attendance. Acupuncturists could make small changes to consultations and service organisation to encourage attendance at recommended appointments and thus potentially improve patient outcomes.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 474.1KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1186/s12906-016-1499-9
Authors
- Publisher:
- BioMed Central
- Journal:
- BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine More from this journal
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 1
- Pages:
- 5
- Publication date:
- 2017-01-01
- Acceptance date:
- 2016-12-06
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1472-6882
- ISSN:
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1472-6882
- Pmid:
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28049527
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:670852
- UUID:
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uuid:16ae2306-1c7e-45d1-ac47-3cf61326036a
- Local pid:
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pubs:670852
- Source identifiers:
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670852
- Deposit date:
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2018-01-19
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Yardley et al
- Copyright date:
- 2017
- Notes:
- © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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