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

NCT06044714 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 86

Last updated 2026-01-28

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

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.

Conditions

  • Perceived Stress

Interventions

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.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-09-01
Primary Completion
2025-10-31
Completion
2025-10-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06044714 on ClinicalTrials.gov