Objective

2

To adapt to the dynamic multidimensional changes in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） constitution， the paths of improving the quality of life through TCM constitution intervention are proposed from a configuration perspective.

Methods

2

Five hundred and nine subjects were included in the study， all of whom voluntarily participated in and completed TCM constitution interventions， and completed 60-item Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire （CCMQ） （including 9 subscales： neutral type，

qi

deficient type，

yang

deficient type，

yin

deficient type， phlegm-dampness type， damp-heat type， blood stasis type，

qi

stagnation type， and special constitution type） to evaluate the TCM constitution， and the Short Form Health Questionnaire （SF-36） in Chinese version （including overall， physical component scores （PCS）， and mental component scores （MCS）） before and 6 months after the intervention to evaluate the quality of life. The necessary condition analysis （NCA） and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis （fsQCA） were used to explore the necessary conditions and advantage configurations for improving the overall， physical and mental quality of life of TCM constitution dimension changes.

Results

2

The results of NCA showed that the changes in the scores of neutral type and

qi

stagnation type can serve as necessary conditions for improving the SF-36 overall quality of life scores （

P

＜0.05）. The changes in the scores of neutral type and blood stasis type can serve as necessary conditions for improving PCS scores. The changes in scores of the other 7 types can serve as necessary conditions for improving MCS scores. The fsQCA results showed that the necessary consistency of a change in a particular physical subscale score alone did not reach to a necessary condition for a change in SF-36 total score， PCS score， and MCS score （consistency ＜ 0.9 for all）， so the results of NCA were considered. The results of configuration analysis found that 6 configurations were included in increasing the overall quality of life scores and PCS scores， and 7 in increasing the MCS scores， with overall consistency ＞ 0.7. Improving the overall quality of life scores required a focus on lowering the

qi

deficient type scores， or reducing the

yang

deficient type scores while increasing the neutral type scores； reducing the scores of phlegm-dampness type and

qi

stagnation type is beneficial for improving the PCS scores； increasing the neutral type scores and reducing the scores of deficient type，

yang

deficient type， phlegm-dampness type， and stagnation type is beneficial for increasing MCS scores.

Conclusion

2

TCM constitution interventions can improve physical， mental and overall quality of life， and its improvement in the mental domain of quality of life is closely related to the paths of overall quality of life. In order to improve the quality of life， in addition to increasing the tendency of the neutral type， more focused and targeted measures should also be taken to decrease the degrees of

qi

deficient type，

yang

deficient type，

qi

stagnation type， and phlegm-dampness type.