[Objective]In order to provide proper educational guidance to work-study students attending an acupuncture school, learning-related standards were prepared by conducting an exploratory inventory survey, and the relationships among willingness to learn, average test scores, and the number of absences was investigated.
[Methods]Subjects were 234 work-study students majoring in acupuncture at a vocational school. The construct validity of the standards and the verification validity of external variables were investigated using exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.
[Results]The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed the following four factors affecting learning:fatigue, willingness to learn, career matching, and class environment. With verification validity, a model having the number of absences at the center matched the data well (GFI=0.959, AGFI=0.929, RMSEA=0.057, and CFI=0.912).
[Conclusion]For proper educational guidance, the establishment of guidance based on the number of absences-which is affected by willingness to learn and in turn affects average test scores-appears valid.

Most acupuncture and moxibustion treatments are for indefinite complaints, or so-called "Mibyou". Therefore, it is natural that "Pattern," the Oriental medical diagnosis, differs from person to person. Unfortunately, the general public, accustomed to Western medicine, may think that "any place to stimulate is the same" because different acupuncture points are used for the same symptoms, and acupuncturists themselves are largely responsible for not having explained and studied the evaluation criteria for "Pattern". In the development of the Mibyou Score (Five Viscera Score), the aim was to eliminate as much as possible the influence of "Pattern" that varies from acupuncturist to acupuncturist, and to objectify and standardize the system by combining "multiple" indefinite complaints, even if "one" indefinite complaint could not be evaluated. Now, the government is emphasizing the use of the concept of "Mibyou" in Oriental medicine for the health of the people. It will be effective only when each citizen knows his or her own "Mibyou" and connects it to Youjou (Regimen). The study of acupuncture and moxibustion must not only " effect" the disease, but also "evaluate" the Mibyou. This will expand the field of activities of acupuncture and moxibustion practitioners.

[Objective]In recent years, communication skills have been recognized as an essential competence for acupuncturists. This study proposes to develop a scale for measuring the medical communication skills of acupuncturists.
[Materials and Methods]A questionnaire of 20 items was used to measure medical communication skills. These items were adopted from a concept analysis conducted in a previous study.
Cronbach's alpha was used to examine the scale's reliability. The scale's validity was examined by correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis comparisons with normal communication skills subscale scores (ENDCOREs, Encode, Decode, Control, Regulate) and a Japanese version of characteristic trait anxiety scores (STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory).
[Results]Factor analysis, using a principal extraction method and promax rotation, was conducted on responses from 443students and therapists. As a result, the original 20 items were reduced to 16, and the following three factors were extracted:I. Acceptance of patients and self-control;II. Appropriate explanation to patients;and III. Understanding of patient's feelings. These three factors had high degrees of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha =.872 -.892).
The scores of the three factors correlated significantly with the scores of the six factors of ENDCORE, and with the anxiety scores. Although the results of multiple regression analysis showed that each factor of ENDCORE explained the three factors, the anxiety scores did not influence medical communication skills. The scores for the three factors correlated significantly with self-evaluation scores of medical interview skill. In addition, these three factors were affected by the degree of clinical experience.
[Conclusion]These results suggest that this scale may be a reliable instrument for assessing medical communication skills among Japanese acupuncturists.