An interventional study of Traditional Chinese Medicine Body Acupuncture in Occupational Stress or Workplace Stress and Exhaustion, Caregiver, sponsored by Swiss University for Traditional Chinese Medicine. Not yet recruiting at 1 site in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-14.
Sponsored by Swiss University for Traditional Chinese Medicine · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
This pilot study investigates the acceptability and effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) body acupuncture on stress and exhaustion among healthcare professionals working in an acute care hospital. Participants will receive acupuncture twice a week for four weeks, with a total of eight treatment sessions. Stress, burnout, sleep quality, and general wellbeing will be assessed before and after the intervention and at follow-up. The study will also assess participants' satisfaction with the intervention and their willingness to participate again or recommend acupuncture to others. In addition, the feasibility of conducting the study will be evaluated, including recruitment, adherence to the treatment schedule, organizational feasibility, and completeness and quality of the collected data. The findings will help determine whether a larger clinical study of TCM body acupuncture in healthcare professionals is feasible and warranted.
This pilot study evaluates the acceptability, effects, and feasibility of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) body acupuncture in healthcare professionals working in an acute care hospital.
Participants who meet the eligibility criteria and provide informed consent will receive a structured TCM body acupuncture intervention consisting of two 45-minute sessions per week for four consecutive weeks, for a total of eight sessions. The acupuncture treatment will be provided by qualified TCM therapists using sterile, disposable needles.
Participants will complete standardized questionnaires at baseline (T0), after the four-week intervention (T1), and at the end of a four-week follow-up period (T2). The assessments will include perceived stress, burnout/exhaustion, sleep quality, and general wellbeing. A TCM anamnesis and pulse assessment will be conducted at baseline. At follow-up assessments, participants will additionally report their satisfaction with the intervention and their willingness to participate in a similar intervention again or recommend it to others.
The feasibility of the study will be assessed using predefined criteria covering recruitment, adherence to the intervention, organizational feasibility, and completeness and quality of the collected data. Safety will be monitored throughout the study by recording adverse events and serious adverse events.
The study is designed as a pilot study and is intended primarily to assess whether the intervention and study procedures are acceptable and feasible and to provide preliminary information on changes in stress, exhaustion, sleep quality, and wellbeing. The results will inform the design and implementation of a potential larger controlled clinical study.
236 studies on the registry are indexed under Occupational Stress; 63 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 20 is below the median of 84 across 168 interventional studies indexed under Occupational Stress.
Browse Occupational Stress studies →This is the only study on the registry with Swiss University for Traditional Chinese Medicine as lead sponsor.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants receive structured traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) body acupuncture twice weekly for four consecutive weeks. Each treatment session lasts approximately 45 minutes, resulting in a total of eight acupuncture sessions per participant. The intervention is administered by qualified TCM therapists using sterile, disposable acupuncture needles.
Procedure: Traditional Chinese Medicine Body Acupuncture
Participants are assigned to one of two predefined treatment pathways based on standardized TCM syndrome differentiation, primarily using pulse diagnosis and TCM history, with tongue diagnosis when required. Participants with predominantly stress-related symptoms receive a stress-oriented dispersing protocol, while those with predominantly exhaustion-related symptoms receive an exhaustion-oriented tonifying protocol. In mixed presentations, assignment follows predefined diagnostic criteria, primarily based on pulse findings. Both pathways use predefined acupuncture point combinations, with individualized adjustments permitted within the assigned pathway. Switching between pathways is not planned. The stress-oriented pathway uses 17 needles and the exhaustion-oriented pathway 16 needles.
Time to Target Recruitment
Time required to recruit the predefined target sample size.
Time frame: From study start until the target sample size of 20 participants is reached, assessed up to 12 weeks.
Treatment Adherence
Proportion of participants completing the predefined acupuncture treatment schedule, including attendance and dropout rates.
Time frame: During the 4-week intervention period.
Organizational Feasibility
Proportion of scheduled acupuncture sessions that are missed or cannot be performed as planned.
Time frame: During the 4-week intervention period.
Data Completeness and Quality
Proportion of participants with complete and evaluable study data according to predefined data-quality criteria.
Time frame: Baseline, end of intervention (Week 4), and end of follow-up (Week 8).
Participant Acceptability of the Acupuncture Intervention
Participants' subjective assessment of the acceptability of the acupuncture intervention using a 0-to-10 Visual Analogue Scale, with 0 indicating not at all acceptable and 10 indicating completely acceptable. Higher scores indicate greater acceptability
Time frame: End of intervention (Week 4), and end of follow-up (Week 8).
Change in Perceived Stress
Change in perceived stress measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10).
Time frame: From baseline to end of intervention (Week 4) and end of follow-up (Week 8)
Change in Burnout and Exhaustion
Change in burnout and exhaustion measured using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI).
Time frame: From baseline to end of intervention (Week 4) and end of follow-up (Week 8)
Change in Sleep Quality
Change in sleep quality measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).
Time frame: From baseline to end of intervention (Week 4) and end of follow-up (Week 8)
Change in Wellbeing
Change in subjective wellbeing measured using a visual analogue scale (VAS).
Time frame: From baseline to end of intervention (Week 4) and end of follow-up (Week 8)
Incidence of Adverse Events
Number, type, and severity of adverse events occurring during the acupuncture intervention and follow-up period. Serious adverse events will also be recorded.
Time frame: From the first acupuncture session through the end of follow-up (week 8)
Change in TCM Pulse Characteristics
Change in predefined TCM pulse characteristics, including wiry, weak, and slippery pulse patterns, assessed using standardized pulse diagnosis and predefined grading criteria. A change of two grading levels is considered clinically meaningful.
Time frame: Baseline, end of intervention (Week 4), and end of follow-up (Week 8).
Plan to share: No — Individual participant data will not be shared with other researchers. Due to the small sample size and the potentially identifiable nature of the study population, individual-level data will not be made available for secondary research.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Start is estimated for Dec 2026; primary completion for Jun 2027, 6 months later.
Of 125 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Occupational Stress, half reached primary completion within 10 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 4 and three quarters within 28. This study's planned 6 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 133 studies reached it within 10 months; a quarter within 5 and three quarters within 27.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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