Comparison of the effectiveness of acupressure and recommended recitals on the patients’ anxiety before surgery in the hospitals of Ferdows city in 2019-2020

 Anxiety is an unpleasant condition that occurs in the majority of people before surgery, and it can cause bleeding and complications after surgery and it can also affect the induction of anesthesia and recovery from it. Nowadays, due to the side effects of medications, non-pharmacological and non-invasive treatments are receiving a lot of attention.The purpose of this research is to determine the effectiveness of acupressure and recommended recitals on the patients’ anxiety before surgery in the hospitals of Ferdows city in 2019-2020.

 This study was a double-blind clinical trial research that was conducted on 150 patients who were candidates for surgery. The samples were selected using convenience sampling. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the three acupressure groups (n=50), recommended recitals (n=50) and the control group (n=50). In order to apply acupressure, the third eye point (Yintang) was pressed for 10 minutes, and in the recommended recitals group, the patients listened to Surah Hamad and Zekr several times using an audio source and headphones. In the control group, pressure was applied to the false point for 10 minutes. The level of anxiety was measured using the VAS questionnaire in all three groups before, after and 30 minutes after the intervention respectively. Data were entered into SPSS software version 19 using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. 

 In recommended recitals group, the average anxiety score before, after and 30 minutes after the intervention had a significant difference with each other (P<0.001). Also, the average anxiety score after the intervention was significantly lower than immediately and 30 minutes after the intervention in this group (P<0.001). Meanwhile, the average score of anxiety in the acupressure group (p=0.06) and the control group (p=0.10) did not show any significant difference with each other at three times.

 Recommended recitals can reduce anxiety before surgery and can be used as a non-drug, safe and cheap method to reduce anxiety before surgery.