Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Different Teaching Methods on Anxiety in Patients Referred for Endoscopy

Gastrointestinal disorders are common complaints for which endoscopy is one of the most important diagnostic procedures. Anxiety is an unpleasant, ambiguous feeling of apprehension and fear of an unknown origin that occurs during anxious and previously stressful situations or during an injury. Lack of sufficient information and fear of pain can cause anxiety prior to an endoscopy, reducing the trend of patients and increasing the endoscopy time. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of various teaching methods (oral, written, oral-written) on patient anxiety prior to an endoscopy.This was a case-control study that enrolled 100 patients, 18-80 years of age, who had at least reading and writing literacy. Patients who referred to a specialized clinic at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for their first endoscopy between December to March 2011 were selected. We randomly divided patients into four groups (oral, written, oralwritten teaching, and control) after their first anxiety assessment with the Beck questionnaire. The information was given to patients by the investigator using the training packages. The next day, 30 minutes prior to the endoscopy, patients completed another Beck Anxiety questionnaire and the effectiveness of the different methods was evaluated. Mean anxiety scores decreased in all three teaching groups after intervention, which was statistically significant compared with the control group (p<0.001).The difference in anxiety scores between the teaching groups (written, oral, oral-written) was not statistically significant (p<0.32). The provision of adequate information to patients about the endoscopy procedure, independent of the teaching method, can reduce patient anxiety.