title: Efficacy of auriculotherapy for the reduction of stress in nursing students: a randomized clinical trial.
abstract: This study is a randomized single-blind trial, which aimed to evaluate the efficacy of true auriculotherapy and placebo auriculotherapy in reducing the stress levels of mid-level Nursing students of the School of Nursing of the Beneficência Portuguesa Hospital. Seventy-one students with average, high and very high scores, according to Vasconcellos' List of Stress Symptoms, were divided into three groups: Control (25), Auriculotherapy (24), and Placebo/Sham (22). They were evaluated at the baseline, 8th and 12th sessions and at the follow-up (15 days) and received Shen Men and Brainstem points (Auriculotherapy Group) and Wrist and Outer Ear points (Placebo/Sham Group). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed statistically significant differences between the Control/Auriculotherapy groups from the 8th session, which was maintained in the third and fourth evaluations (p=0.000) and between the Control/Placebo groups (p<0.05) at the three evaluations. It was concluded that the true auriculotherapy obtained better responses (45.39%) than the placebo (34.18%) in the reduction of the stress, but further studies are recommended for the re-evaluation of the sham points for stress. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01420848.
authors.affiliation: Real e Benemérita Associação Portuguesa de Beneficência, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juliana Miyuki
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: do Prado
authors.forename: Leonice Fumiko Sato
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Kurebayashi
authors.forename: Maria Júlia Paes
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D055097:Auriculotherapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013338:Students, Nursing