Trial reportJournal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)2018
"It's Better in a Group Anyway": Patient Experiences of Group and Individual Acupuncture.
Trial report in Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Individual vs. Group Delivery of Acupuncture Therapy for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Urban Primary Care-a Randomized Trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Trial
- Group-Based Integrative Pain Management: Feasibility of a Factorial Randomized Trial in Safety-Net Primary Care.Journal of primary care & community healthTrial
- Evaluating the outcomes and patient experience of group and individual acupuncture in an NHS cancer care setting: a mixed-methods study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- Exploring the Experiences of Patients Undergoing Acupuncture at a Community-based Clinic Using Narrative Analysis.Acta medica Philippina · 2025Article
- The integration of complementary and integrative health and whole person health in gastrointestinal disorders: a narrative review.Translational gastroenterology and hepatology · 2024Review
- [Concept for integrative pain treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee based on the evidence for conservative and complementary therapies].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Review
- SIO-ASCO guideline on integrative medicine for cancer pain management: implications for racial and ethnic pain disparities.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2023Article
- Exploring patient experiences and acceptability of group vs. individual acupuncture for Cancer-related pain: a qualitative study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2022Article
- Multi-stakeholder perspectives on managing insomnia in cancer survivors: recommendations to reduce barriers and translate patient-centered research into practice.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2021Article
- Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing Bundled Acupuncture and Yoga Therapy to Treat Chronic Pain in Community Healthcare Settings: A Feasibility Pilot.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2021Article
- Group versus Individual Acupuncture (AP) for Cancer Pain: A Randomized Noninferiority Trial.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Article
- "It Gave Me Hope" Experiences of Diverse Safety Net Patients in a Group Acupuncture Intervention for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy.Health equity · 2020Article
- What if Acupuncture Were Covered by Insurance for Pain Management? A Cross-Sectional Study of Cancer Patients at One Academic Center and 11 Community Hospitals.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2019Article
- Group Acupuncture Therapy With Yoga Therapy for Chronic Neck, Low Back, and Osteoarthritis Pain in Safety Net Settings for an Underserved Population: A Feasibility Pilot Study.Global advances in integrative medicine and healthArticle
- Group-Based Integrative Pain Management in Primary Care: A Study Protocol for Multilevel Interventions to Address Health Disparities.Global advances in integrative medicine and healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesChronic pain is prevalent, burdensome, and costly, and there are ethnic and racial disparities in treatment. Acupuncture is effective and safe, but access is limited. Group acupuncture can decrease cost and increase capacity by decreasing clinic space needs and increasing patient volume per acupuncturist; however, the effectiveness and patient acceptability of group and individual session acupuncture have never been directly compared.
designThe Acupuncture Approaches to Decrease Disparities in Pain Treatment (AADDOPT-2) study is a randomized comparative effectiveness trial of acupuncture for chronic pain. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with a subset of patients enrolled in the trial. SETTINGS/LOCATION: Outpatient clinics in an urban, low income area serving a primarily black and Hispanic population. SUBJECTS: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 46 patients; 23 in each arm of the AADDOPT-2 study.
interventionsPatients were randomized to receive either individual acupuncture or acupuncture delivered in a small group. OUTCOME MEASURES: Transcripts of the interviews were analyzed using an inductive thematic framework to explore and compare the patient experience in group and individual settings.
resultsPatients in both study arms valued the pain relief, improved quality of life, and relaxation experienced during acupuncture. Privacy and mixed-sex groups were cited as a concern by a minority of patients; however, most of those randomized to the group setting noted that these concerns abated after initiating treatment. Differences between arms included the depth of the relationship with the acupuncturist and misgivings related to the treatment space. Group dynamics varied; some groups fostered a supportive, therapeutic interaction, while others were more reserved.
conclusionsPatients in both arms valued their acupuncture experience. Participants described both positive and negative aspects of the group setting.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.