PURPOSE
to determine the effects of hand acupuncture on IBS-affected college women's bowel symptoms and psychologic health by applying the therapy to them. METHOD: The researcher sampled the nursing student attending a college of nursing science in Seoul and checked if they were affected by IBS in reference to the Rome II Criteria. Students were classified into a experimental group(21 subjects) and a control group(19 subjects). Hand acupuncture was applied to the experimental group 8 rounds for 4 weeks; each round lasted 30 minutes. Data were collected for 8 weeks from October 11 to December 1, 2004. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 12.0 program. RESULT: After the therapy, frequency(p=.005), distress(p=.001) and disability (p=.000) associated IBS bowel symptom and anxiety were significantly lowered in the experimental group(p=.026). CONCLUSIONS: It was confirmed through this study that the hand acupuncture would be effective in relieving IBS bowel symptoms and anxiety.