Effects of Auriculo-Acupuncture on Sleep and Emotional Stress in Hispanic Immigrants: A Small Randomized Clinical...

To investigate whether Hispanic immigrants with sleep disturbance showed improvements with auriculo-acupuncture mediated by emotional stress. Single-blind randomized clinical trial. Community. Sixteen Hispanic male (N = 4) and female (N = 12) volunteers. Bi-weekly intervention for eight total treatments of National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) auriculo-acupuncture or sham. Emotional distress and sleep measures were completed Baseline, Mid- (four treatments), and Follow-up (eight treatments). Comparisons between Groups and within sessions using Mixed-Model ANOVA; linear regression assessed emotional stress and sleep association. Significant within-subjects effect of Session (p's <.05) with significant differences Baseline/Mid-Way and Baseline/Final (p's <.05). Linear Regression showed significant positive associations at Baseline. Community auriculo-acupuncture may improve sleep and emotional stress in Hispanic immigrants.