Investigation of the Effectiveness of Evidence-Based Cardiac Care Training on Patients’ Anxiety after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery in a Selected Military Hospital in Tehran, Iran

Anxiety is one of the most common complications after heart surgery and has a negative effect on patients’ quality of life.

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of evidence-based heart care training on patients’ anxiety after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

This experimental study was conducted in 2016 on 67 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery and were admitted to the heart ward of a selected military hospital in Tehran, Iran. The patients were selected using the convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental (n=34) and control (n=33) groups. The intervention included face-to-face training and the presentation of an evidence-based heart care training booklet to the experimental group. The training booklet had been designed by the researchers based on the Stetler model. The control group received only routine care. The anxiety level of patients in both groups was measured twice using Spielberger’s seven-item anxiety questionnaire. The collected data were then analyzed using SPSS software (version 21) through paired and independent t-tests.

The mean±SD age of patients was 60.37±10.202 years, and all were male and married. Patients in the two study groups were homogeneous in terms of individual characteristics. There was no statistically significant difference between the two study groups in terms of anxiety scores before intervention. However, the level of anxiety in the experimental group decreased significantly after the intervention compared to the control group (P<0.05).

Based on the obtained results, evidence-based heart care training using booklets and face-to-face training can be effective in reducing patients’ anxiety following coronary artery bypass graft surgery.