Effect of Prayer on the anxiety level in the family members of patients undergoing general surgery in Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Kashan

Prayer is a traditional intervention for relief from disease and upgrading health which could be done individually or collectively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Prayer on anxiety in family members of patients undergoing general surgery in Shahid Beheshti hospital of Kashan in 2012 This quasi-experimental study was performed on 80 family members of patients undergoing general surgery. Family members of patients were randomly selected and placed into two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group listened to the translated versions of the seventh، tenth and thirteenth prayers of the Sahife Sajadieh with titles «Pray when tragedy strikes، Pray for refuge to God، Pray in need and seeking something from God for 30 minutes by headphones. The control group did not receive any intervention. Before and after the intervention Spil Berger questionnaire was completed for the two groups. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version16، Chi-Square، t-tests and one-woy ANOVA. Findings indicated a significant difference between the mean of open and hidden anxiety in the experimental group befor inter Vention (p≤0. 05). This difference was also significant in the experimental and control groups، after the intervention (p > 0. 05). According to the findings، prayer has a positive effect on reducing the anxiety and could reduce the anxiety in the family members of patients before the surgery.