Formulating and piloting assessment criteria for filiform needle manipulation techniques in acupuncture education: a sequential e-Delphi and feasibility study

With the internationalization of acupuncture, many countries have begun to place greater emphasis on the training of acupuncturists. Currently, there is still a lack of internationally recognized assessment standards for acupuncturists. Through an e-Delphi study to solicit expert opinions and a pilot study to preliminarily verify its feasibility, this research aims to develop a set of universal standardized assessment procedures and evaluation methods for the evaluation of filiform needle manipulation techniques. The study comprised four phases. The initial phase involved preparatory tasks where an item pool was developed by reviewing literature and international studies. And then, a group of representative and specialized experts in the field was selected to form an expert panel. The subsequent phase commenced with e-Delphi consultations, where questionnaires were formulated based on the item pool and distributed to volunteer experts via email. Following multiple consultation rounds, the item framework was established. Moving to the third phase, specific implementation details for each item were determined through further e-Delphi consultations, leading to the creation of comprehensive assessment criteria. Lastly, the fourth phase involved an initial assessment of the standardized process's feasibility through a small-scale pilot test. The positive coefficient of experts in all e-Delphi consultations was 100%, and the coefficient of authority was (0.935±0.017), indicating that the participating experts showed a high degree of support and authority for this study, which strengthened the reliability of the results. After 2 stages of e-Delphi consultation, 4 questionnaires were distributed. According to the pre-set consensus principle, we finalized a criteria framework comprising 8 primary items, 32 secondary items, and 17 tertiary items. For each item, systematically developed implementation programs and requirements were established. The first draft of the criteria was written based on the e-Delphi results and subsequently revised to address shortcomings identified through the pilot study. This study has preliminarily established standardized examination criteria for filiform needle manipulation techniques, which could serve as a reference for the certification examinations of acupuncturists worldwide. Future research should expand the pilot scope to further evaluate the feasibility and practicality of these criteria.