TY - JOUR
T1 - A UK support network for maternity acupuncture: A survey of acupuncturists on the Acupuncture (For Conception to) Childbirth Team (ACT)
AU - Robinson, Nicola
PY - 2019/10/17
Y1 - 2019/10/17
N2 - Background: In the United Kingdom a professional acupuncture network, Acupuncture (For Conception to) Childbirth Team (ACT), provides education and support for practitioners using maternity acupuncture. However, the nature of the treatments they provide is unknown.
Objective: To survey members about their practice with a focus on pregnancy related care.
Design: An anonymous self-completion questionnaire was completed by practitioners from ten ACT branches using the Internet provider Survey Monkey. Questions covered demographic information, practitioners’ frequency of treating patients in the previous year, and referral networks. Descriptive statistics were used to report the data.
Results. Ninety-nine replies were received from 114 invitations, a response rate of 86.8%. The majority (87 [87.8%]) had treated at least one pregnant women in the past year. Most frequent treatments were for : birth preparation (84 [96.5%]), nausea & vomiting (82 [94.2%]) and inducing labour (79 [90.8%]). Over 50% were also treating lower back and pelvic pain (77 [88.5%]), breech (74 [85.0%]), threatened miscarriage (55 [63.2]) and headaches/migraines (46 [52.8%]). Only a minority (8 [9.1%]) attended births. A greater number of referrals were received from medical health professionals for pregnancy (54 [65.8%]), than for fertility (16 [19.5%]) or menstrual conditions (8 [ 9.7%]).
Conclusions: ACT practitioners were providing treatmenting for a wide range of pregnancy related conditions, possibly because referrals from medical health professionals were more common than for fertility issues or menstrual health. It may be that acupuncturists in other countries would benefit from modelling this approach to support maternity acupuncture and build referral networks with medical health professionals.
Final publication is available from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/acu.2019.1386
AB - Background: In the United Kingdom a professional acupuncture network, Acupuncture (For Conception to) Childbirth Team (ACT), provides education and support for practitioners using maternity acupuncture. However, the nature of the treatments they provide is unknown.
Objective: To survey members about their practice with a focus on pregnancy related care.
Design: An anonymous self-completion questionnaire was completed by practitioners from ten ACT branches using the Internet provider Survey Monkey. Questions covered demographic information, practitioners’ frequency of treating patients in the previous year, and referral networks. Descriptive statistics were used to report the data.
Results. Ninety-nine replies were received from 114 invitations, a response rate of 86.8%. The majority (87 [87.8%]) had treated at least one pregnant women in the past year. Most frequent treatments were for : birth preparation (84 [96.5%]), nausea & vomiting (82 [94.2%]) and inducing labour (79 [90.8%]). Over 50% were also treating lower back and pelvic pain (77 [88.5%]), breech (74 [85.0%]), threatened miscarriage (55 [63.2]) and headaches/migraines (46 [52.8%]). Only a minority (8 [9.1%]) attended births. A greater number of referrals were received from medical health professionals for pregnancy (54 [65.8%]), than for fertility (16 [19.5%]) or menstrual conditions (8 [ 9.7%]).
Conclusions: ACT practitioners were providing treatmenting for a wide range of pregnancy related conditions, possibly because referrals from medical health professionals were more common than for fertility issues or menstrual health. It may be that acupuncturists in other countries would benefit from modelling this approach to support maternity acupuncture and build referral networks with medical health professionals.
Final publication is available from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/acu.2019.1386
U2 - 10.1089/acu.2019.1386
DO - 10.1089/acu.2019.1386
M3 - Article
SN - 1933-6586
SP - 274
EP - 280
JO - Medical Acupuncture
JF - Medical Acupuncture
ER -