Effect of Patient Education about Pain Control on Patient's Anxiety Prior to Abdominal Surgery

Surgery is a stressful experience. Fear of postoperative pain causes anxiety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of patient education about pain control on patient's anxiety before abdominal surgery.Methods & Materials: In this quasi-experimental study, 89 patients who were planned to undergo elective abdominal surgery in an educational hospital were recruited to the study. Informed consents were obtained. The participants were randomly allocated in two control (n=45) and experimental (n=44) groups. The questionnaire included demographic information, clinical characteristics, and the Spielberger's State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Patients in the experimental group received education about pain control one day before surgery. The education method was oral explanation for 20-30 minutes. The control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics (chi-square, t-test, Fisher's exact test, Wilcoxon signed ranks and Mann-whitney's tests) in the SPSS. Findings indicated that there was a significant difference in anxiety level between the experiment and control groups before surgery (P<0.001). There was also a significant difference between anxiety level in the surgery day (P<0.001) between the two study groups. The anxiety level was significantly decreased in the experiment group. Based on our findings, patient education about pain control led to reduce preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing abdominal surgery. Patient education is a non-medical simple intervention that is recommended for using in surgery wards.