Effect of Problem-Solving Skill Training on Anxiety of Operation Room Students

Anxiety is defined as an unpleasant and vague feeling and often is associated with a sense of uncertainty about an unknown factor. Students who are trained in the hospital settings like operating rooms are affected by stressful factors. Problem-solving is a short-term intervention that can be used to treat psychological problems. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of problem-solving skill training on anxiety among operating room students. This quasi-experimental study with a pre-and post-test design was conducted on operation room students of Ahvaz-Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, 2013. Data was collected by the demographic information form and Spielberger&rsquos questionnaire. After an initial screening of 90 students, 60 person who had high level of anxiety were randomly divided into experimental (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. The experimental group obtained 8 sessions (one session per week) problem solving training and two months later, the test repeated. The control group only followed-up without any intervention. Data were analyzed using chi-square and t-test in SPSS (v. 19). The results showed that problem solving training significantly decreased state anxiety (p<0.001), but did not decreased the trait anxiety. In general, problem solving training course has positive effect on decreasing the anxiety in operating room students. Therefore this training course is suggested for students as a low-cost and simple method.