Auricular Stimulation vs. Expressive Writing for Exam Anxiety

NCT ID: NCT03093584

Last Updated: 2017-03-29

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

37 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2014-04-30

Study Completion Date

2014-07-31

Brief Summary

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Title of the study: Auricular acupuncture (AA) vs. expressive writing for pre-exam anxiety - a randomised crossover study

Study period: 04 / 2014 - 07 / 2014

Principal Investigator: Prof. Dr. T. Usichenko Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine University Medicine of Greifswald

Aim of the study: To investigate the anxiolytic effect of AA vs. expressive writing and vs. no intervention in students, passing the oral exams in anatomy at the University of Greifswald

Design: Prospective randomised crossover trial

Interventions: 1. AA using indwelling fixed needles, retained 24 h in situ 2. Expressive writing

Number of volunteers: N = 40

Healthy medical students at the University of Greifswald Participants of the anatomy exams in spring/summer 2014 Without previous anxiolytic, sedative and analgesic medication No pregnancy or lactating Informed consent

Outcome measures: Anxiety level Heart rate, blood pressure Salivary α-amylase

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Anxiety

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

CROSSOVER

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

TRIPLE

Participants Investigators Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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Auricular stimulation

Auricular acupuncture with indwelling fixed auricular acupuncture needles

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Auricular acupuncture

Intervention Type DEVICE

Auricular acupuncture with indwelling fixed auricular acupuncture needles

Expressive writing

Expressive writing - sharing the emotional expectations in front of forthcoming exam

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Expressive writing

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Expressive writing is a standard psychological method in treatment of exam anxiety

No intervention

No intervention, just observation and monitoring of outcome measures

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Auricular acupuncture

Auricular acupuncture with indwelling fixed auricular acupuncture needles

Intervention Type DEVICE

Expressive writing

Expressive writing is a standard psychological method in treatment of exam anxiety

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

1. Medical students at the University of Greifswald
2. Going to take part in oral exams of human anatomy
3. Participants without previous anxiolytic medication
4. Ability to express the thoughts and emotions ("expressive writing")
5. Written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria

1. Recidivist alcoholics
2. Local auricular skin infection
3. Pregnant or lactating women
4. Participants with prosthetic or damaged cardiac valves, intracardiac and intravascular shunts, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and mitral valve prolaps (risk of bacterial endocarditis according to guidelines of AHA)
5. Participants who are unable to understand the consent form
6. History of psychiatric disease
Minimum Eligible Age

19 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

35 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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University Medicine Greifswald

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Taras Usichenko, MD. PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University Medicine of Greifswald

Other Identifiers

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BB 037/14

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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