부산대학교 도서관

Purpose: This study aims to examine the effects of auriculotherapy on reducing signs of dry eye syndrome. Methods: This study is based on a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design. The participants who scored higher than 13 on the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) were divided randomly into two groups, the experimental group (n=45) and the control group (n=44). Auriculotherapy was performed by researchers for 2 weeks. For the experimental group, seed stickers were applied to the eye, liver, shenmen, and tubercle point of their ears. The pretest and the posttest included the same questionnaires of the OSDI as well as the Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ25) and the eye fatigue. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi-square test, t-test and paired t-test, using SAS 20.0 program. Results: The difference in the OSDI’s scores showed a significant decrease between the pretest and the posttest (t=-4.12, p<.001) in the experimental group. No significant difference was found in the NEI-VFQ25 (t=-0.10, p=0.921, t=-0.91 p=0.374). However, the experimental group showed a significant decrease in eye fatigue (t=5.78, p<.001), whereas the control group showed no difference (t=1.38, p=0.18). Conclusion: Auriculotherapy can be used effectively on relieving the symptoms of dry eye syndrome and eye fatigue. However, the quality of life related to eyes was not improved by auriculotherapy.