The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Using psychological theory and qualitative methods to develop a new evidence-based website about acupuncture for back pain

Using psychological theory and qualitative methods to develop a new evidence-based website about acupuncture for back pain
Using psychological theory and qualitative methods to develop a new evidence-based website about acupuncture for back pain
Introduction: Potential acupuncture patients seek out information about acupuncture from various sources including websites, many of which are unreliable. We aimed to create an informative, scientifically accurate and engaging website to educate patients about acupuncture for back pain and modify their beliefs in a way that might enhance its clinical effects.

Methods: We used psychological theory and techniques to design an evidence-based website, incorporating multimedia elements. We conducted qualitative “think aloud” audio-recorded interviews to elicit user views of the website. A convenience sample of ten participants (4 male; aged 21-64 years from the local community) looked at the website in the presence of a researcher and spoke their thoughts out loud. Comments were categorised by topic.

Results: The website comprises 11 main pages and addresses key topics of interest to potential acupuncture patients, including beneficial and adverse effects, mechanisms of action, safety, practicalities, and patients’ experiences of acupuncture. It provides information through text, evidence summaries and audio-clips of four patients’ stories and two acupuncturists’ descriptions of their practice, and three short films. Evidence from the think aloud study was used to identify opportunities to make the website more informative, engaging, and user-friendly.

Discussion/conclusions: Using a combination of psychological theory and qualitative interviews enabled us to produce a user-friendly, evidence-based website that is likely to change patients’ beliefs about acupuncture for back pain. Before using the website in clinical settings it is necessary to test its effects on key outcomes including patients’ beliefs and capacity for making informed choices about acupuncture.
1876-3820
384-393
Bishop, Felicity L.
1f5429c5-325f-4ac4-aae3-6ba85d079928
Greville-Harris, Maddy
15fdf3ab-d129-4191-bfd4-9c14c910bfef
Bostock, Jennifer
209fe50a-0710-4023-aa51-5582b8b0eca5
Din, Amy
4ca3c758-ec41-4c76-baf6-95ad788f5336
Graham, Cynthia A.
ac400331-f231-4449-a69b-ec9a477224c8
Lewith, George
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Liossi, Christina
fd401ad6-581a-4a31-a60b-f8671ffd3558
O'Riordan, Tim
d6ba191a-e432-41f8-b3da-176d28355579
Ryves, Rachel
7ae70377-352a-4297-9798-a6aed0e1c04b
White, Peter
f33829fd-24c9-4b44-a148-24eca9d52253
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
Bishop, Felicity L.
1f5429c5-325f-4ac4-aae3-6ba85d079928
Greville-Harris, Maddy
15fdf3ab-d129-4191-bfd4-9c14c910bfef
Bostock, Jennifer
209fe50a-0710-4023-aa51-5582b8b0eca5
Din, Amy
4ca3c758-ec41-4c76-baf6-95ad788f5336
Graham, Cynthia A.
ac400331-f231-4449-a69b-ec9a477224c8
Lewith, George
0fc483fa-f17b-47c5-94d9-5c15e65a7625
Liossi, Christina
fd401ad6-581a-4a31-a60b-f8671ffd3558
O'Riordan, Tim
d6ba191a-e432-41f8-b3da-176d28355579
Ryves, Rachel
7ae70377-352a-4297-9798-a6aed0e1c04b
White, Peter
f33829fd-24c9-4b44-a148-24eca9d52253
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e

Bishop, Felicity L., Greville-Harris, Maddy, Bostock, Jennifer, Din, Amy, Graham, Cynthia A., Lewith, George, Liossi, Christina, O'Riordan, Tim, Ryves, Rachel, White, Peter and Yardley, Lucy (2016) Using psychological theory and qualitative methods to develop a new evidence-based website about acupuncture for back pain. European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 384-393. (doi:10.1016/j.eujim.2016.05.006).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Introduction: Potential acupuncture patients seek out information about acupuncture from various sources including websites, many of which are unreliable. We aimed to create an informative, scientifically accurate and engaging website to educate patients about acupuncture for back pain and modify their beliefs in a way that might enhance its clinical effects.

Methods: We used psychological theory and techniques to design an evidence-based website, incorporating multimedia elements. We conducted qualitative “think aloud” audio-recorded interviews to elicit user views of the website. A convenience sample of ten participants (4 male; aged 21-64 years from the local community) looked at the website in the presence of a researcher and spoke their thoughts out loud. Comments were categorised by topic.

Results: The website comprises 11 main pages and addresses key topics of interest to potential acupuncture patients, including beneficial and adverse effects, mechanisms of action, safety, practicalities, and patients’ experiences of acupuncture. It provides information through text, evidence summaries and audio-clips of four patients’ stories and two acupuncturists’ descriptions of their practice, and three short films. Evidence from the think aloud study was used to identify opportunities to make the website more informative, engaging, and user-friendly.

Discussion/conclusions: Using a combination of psychological theory and qualitative interviews enabled us to produce a user-friendly, evidence-based website that is likely to change patients’ beliefs about acupuncture for back pain. Before using the website in clinical settings it is necessary to test its effects on key outcomes including patients’ beliefs and capacity for making informed choices about acupuncture.

Text
Bishop 2016 EuJIM accepted ms.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
Download (1MB)
Text
1-s2.0-S1876382016300804-main - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (1MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 19 May 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 May 2016
Published date: August 2016
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences, Primary Care & Population Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 395254
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/395254
ISSN: 1876-3820
PURE UUID: 9fedbeba-a9b0-44b3-a7a4-564f6b307674
ORCID for Felicity L. Bishop: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8737-6662
ORCID for Maddy Greville-Harris: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8191-9614
ORCID for Cynthia A. Graham: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7884-599X
ORCID for Christina Liossi: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0627-6377
ORCID for Tim O'Riordan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4905-7430
ORCID for Rachel Ryves: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3757-1152
ORCID for Lucy Yardley: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3853-883X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 26 May 2016 09:32
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:36

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Maddy Greville-Harris ORCID iD
Author: Jennifer Bostock
Author: Amy Din
Author: George Lewith
Author: Tim O'Riordan ORCID iD
Author: Rachel Ryves ORCID iD
Author: Peter White
Author: Lucy Yardley ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×