A Study on the Effect of the Hand Acupuncture on IBS-affected College Women's Bowel Symptoms and Psychologic Health

수지침이 과민성 장 증후군 여대생의 장 증상과 정신건강에 미치는 효과

Purpose: to determine the effects of hand acupuncture on IBS-affected college women's bowel symptoms and psychologic health by applying the therapy to them. Method: The researcher sampled the nursing student attending a college of nursing science in Seoul and checked if they were affected by IBS in reference to the Rome II Criteria. Students were classified into a experimental group(21 subjects) and a control group(19 subjects). Hand acupuncture was applied to the experimental group 8 rounds for 4 weeks; each round lasted 30 minutes. Data were collected for 8 weeks from October 11 to December 1, 2004. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 12.0 program. Result: After the therapy, frequency(p=.005), distress(p=.001) and disability (p=.000) associated IBS bowel symptom and anxiety were significantly lowered in the experimental group(p=.026). Conclusions: It was confirmed through this study that the hand acupuncture would be effective in relieving IBS bowel symptoms and anxiety.