Table 1.

Revised Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA)

	Item criteria	Description
1. Acupuncture rationale	1a) Style of acupuncture	Korean medicine therapy
	1b) Reasoning for treatment provided—based on historical context, literature sources, and/or consensus methods, with references where appropriate	1) Discussion among four doctors who practice Korean medicine (consensus) 2) Textbook of acupuncture and moxibustion medicine 3) Relevant articles [10] Selection of treatment regions based on textbooks, related papers, and expert discussions
	1c) Extent to which treatment varied	Standardized treatment
2. Details of needling	2a) Number of needle insertions per subject per session (mean and range where relevant)	8
	2b) Names (or location if no standard name) of points used (unilateral/bilateral)	Baihui (GV20), Sishencong (EX-HN1), Fengchi (GB20), and Shenting (GV24)
	2c) Depth of insertion, based on a specified unit of measurement or on a particular tissue level	After the needles are inserted into the acupoints subgaleally along the scalp at an angle of 15–30°, GB20 will be punctured 17 –30 mm in the direction toward nose tip. GV24, the anterior EX-HN1, and GV20 will be punctured forwards, and the left, right and posterior EX-HN1 toward GV20. The depth of insertion will be 9–24 mm depending on the location of the needle [26]
	2d) Responses sought	No de qi or muscle twitching; only sensation due to needle insertion
	2e) Needle stimulation	Electrical stimulation
	2f) Needle retention time	30-min per session
	2 g) Needle type	Sterile, stainless steel, disposable acupuncture needles (size 0.25 × 30 mm; Dong Bang Acupuncture, Inc., Boryeong, Republic of Korea; Product no. A84010.02)
3. Treatment regimen	3a) Number of treatment sessions	24
	3b) Frequency and duration of treatment sessions	Three times/week for 8 weeks, 30 min per session
4. Other treatment components	4a) Details of other interventions administered to the acupuncture group	RehaCom cognitive rehabilitation
	4b) Setting and context of treatment—including instructions to practitioners—as well as information and explanations given to patients	Practitioner-patient conversation about the context of the treatment, life habits, and daily life management
5. Practitioner background	5a) Description of participating acupuncturists	Korean medicine doctor with the following qualifications: 6 years of formal university training in Korean medicine, a license
6. Control or comparator interventions	6a) Rationale for the control or comparator in the context of the research question with sources that justify the choice	Zhang H, Zhao L, Yang S, Chen Z, Li Y, Peng X, Yang Y, Zhu M. Clinical observation on effect of scalp acupuncture for mild cognitive impairment [10]
	6b) Precise description of the control or comparator; details for items 1–3 above with the use of sham acupuncture or any other type of acupuncture-like control	Elctroacupuncture combined with computer-based cognitive rehabilitation group will receive the RehaCom cognitive rehabilitation after electroacupuncture treatment by same practitioner. The participants will be generally in seating position and will receive CCR using the RehaCom software. We will use 6 different therapeutic programs that seek to restore attention, memory, and executive functions. Each program has different tasks from which participants choose during each therapy session. The CCR will last 30 min each time, three times a week, for a total of 24 sessions