Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 484
The Acupuncture Research Resource Centre was established in 1994 to meet the research needs of the acupuncture profession in the UK, but concomitantly developed a free-on-demand information service available to all. The start-up of this purpose-built database has been published previously but with no information on the nature of the demand. This paper describes who uses the service, users’ needs and how needs are met.
A retrospective analysis of the service records was carried out for the period 1998–2002. Data collected included: type of user, type and details of request, type and details of response.
Users of the service included acupuncturists, acupuncture students, members of the public, journalists, National Health Service staff, student nurses and doctors. Requests were mainly for research evidence on effectiveness, information about theory and practice of traditional acupuncture or for help with research projects. These demands were met using a variety of information resources. The nature of ‘evidence’ supplied varied according to the needs of both the user and their target audience. Changes in the patterns of demand over the period may reflect increased research content in acupuncture courses together with increased public awareness and Internet access.
The Acupuncture Research Resource Centre has contributed both to raising research consciousness within the profession and to promoting acupuncture and its evidence base, and acupuncture research, more widely.
