| Methods |
RCT, USA |
| Participants |
50 employees of the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center |
| Interventions |
1) Experimental: Qigong exercise: participants assigned to the exercise group attended a 1‐hour, noon qigong class twice weekly and were asked to practice independently for 30 minutes on non‐class days with the aid of a DVD demonstrating the instructor performing the exercises. Classes were taught by a senior apprentice in qigong with over 17 years’ experience in qigong. In addition, participants were provided a manual that outlined the acupuncture meridians and the rationale for the exercises. During class sessions, participants practised movements until they experienced a sensation of stretching or pressure in the targeted acupuncture points. The qigong movements were synchronised with specific breathing patterns, and participants were instructed to inhale and exhale fully at a comfortable rate, with a target respiratory rate of 6 breaths or fewer per minute.
2) Control: No intervention |
| Outcomes |
Perceived Stress Scale |
| Notes |
|
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
"Fifty (50) subjects, 39 females and 11 males, were matched for gender and then randomized (25 in each treatment group) through the use of computer‐generated numbers (SYSTAT12.0 for Windows, Cranes Software, 2007, Bangalore, India)." (p. 940) |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not reported |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Not possible, self‐report |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
"There were no significant differences in numbers of withdrawals between study groups" (p.940) This statement seems counterfactual as the intervention group lost 36% and the control group lost 16% of their participants before follow‐up. In the intervention group 5 (25%) stopped attending and in the control group one participant started mindfulness training. ITT analysis was not used. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
High risk |
Authors only report change values. |
| Other bias |
Unclear risk |
We did not find any indications of other sources of bias. |
