THE EFFECT OF ROLE-PLAYING THERAPEUTIC COMMUNICATION TRAINING IN NURSES ON PATIENTS' ANXIETY BEFORE SURGERY; A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Anxiety as a factor affecting the health of the body in the preoperative period reduces immune reactions and increases the risk of wound infection, the patient's hospitalization, and treatment costs. Communication therapy is one of the ways to reduce anxiety that creates an effective therapeutic relationship. Therefore, a study was conducted to determine the effect of therapeutic communication training by role-playing to nurses on patients' anxiety before abdominal surgery in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Urmia in 2019.

In this quasi-experimental study, nurses were selected by convenient sampling and randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. In the intervention group, nurses were taught communication skills by role-playing in an 8-day course. No intervention was performed in control (except for routine care). Before and after the intervention, the test was performed as a pre-test and post-test using the Spielberger questionnaire. The data obtained from the research units were analyzed by SPSS 16 statistical software using Chi-square and t-test to evaluate the research results.

The results did not show a statistically significant difference between the control and intervention groups in terms of state anxiety score (P = 0.698) and hidden anxiety scores (P=0.72) before the intervention. However, after training of communication skills, there was a statistically significant difference between the control and intervention groups regarding state anxiety score (P = 0.006) and hidden anxiety (P=0.001).

The results showed that training communication skills in the role-playing method in nurses leads to better therapeutic communication between them and the patient, better retelling of concerns by the patient and also reducing their anxiety level before abdominal surgery. Considering the role of nurses' communication skills in reducing anxiety in patients before surgery, it is suggested that communication skills should be taught to nurses using effective educational methods, including role-playing.