{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,7]],"date-time":"2026-02-07T12:25:20Z","timestamp":1770467120165,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]],"date-time":"2023-05-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1683763200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Zhejiang Provincial Planned Project of Philosophy and Social Sciences","award":["20NDJC118YB"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20NDJC118YB"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Healthcare"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Acupuncture, as an ancient practice for healthcare in China, is now widely used in the world and regarded as a non-conventional therapy (NCT) in many Western countries. In Portugal, acupuncture has been structured and well regulated for the market of teaching and clinical practice, but little effort has been put in to explore it in depth. This article aims to disclose the current education of acupuncture as a NCT in Portugal through investigation of acupuncture laws, field surveys, teaching work, and interviews with people from the NCT field. We found that according to the academic norms and rules of education in Portugal, there is a gradual difficulty in the progression and maintenance of the degree training dynamics. The reasons are the lack of more tolerant transitional measures and many practical difficulties confronted by the institutions that embark on these complementary programs. Therefore, it will be necessary to promote additional programs and measures to avoid a total emptiness of the teaching of acupuncture and at the same time losses of clinicians, competencies, and quality of information that are difficult to recover. It could be very meaningful and thought provoking to the future development and improvement of acupuncture in Portugal and in other countries that welcome acupuncture and intend to have better legislation and application.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare11101389","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]],"date-time":"2023-05-11T01:37:09Z","timestamp":1683769029000},"page":"1389","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Insights into Current Education of Acupuncture as a Non-Conventional Therapy in Portugal"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5314-1091","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiao","family":"Ye","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"IZCMC\u2014Institute of Zhejiang Chinese Medical Culture, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University and Key Cultivating Base of Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Sciences, Hangzhou 310053, China"},{"name":"HMS\u2014Humanities and Management School, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China"},{"name":"SMH\u2014School of Medical Humanities, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6071-0715","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lara","family":"Lopes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSin\u2014Center of BioSciences in Integrative Health, 4250-105 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ricardo","family":"Teixeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ETCMA\u2014European Traditional Chinese Medicine Association, 3811 LS Amersfoort, The Netherlands"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SBMS\u2014School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4570-5445","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge Pereira","family":"Machado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSin\u2014Center of BioSciences in Integrative Health, 4250-105 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2023, April 23). 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