The Effect of Preoperative Electronic Education on Anxiety of Patients Undergoing General Surgery

Preoperative anxiety is a common problem of surgical patients because it causes a range of emotional, psychological and physical problems. Numerous pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods have been used to reduce the level of anxiety in patients undergoing general surgery.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of electronic education on preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC).

The present study was a randomized controlled trial on 88 patients who were candidates for LC in two intervention and control groups in one of the Kermanshah hospitals. Patients in the intervention group received electronic education before surgery. The Visual Analog Scale Anxiety (VAS-A) questionnaire was used to measure anxiety before surgery in the study. Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software.

The results showed that there was no significant difference in the level of basic anxiety between the intervention and control groups. In second VAS-A evaluation, a significant mean difference was observed between the two groups so that the anxiety of the intervention group was calculated as 26.1 ± (SD = 16) vs. the control group as 45 ± (SD = 21). The mean of post-intervention anxiety compared to pre-intervention anxiety significantly decreased in the intervention group.

Our findings highlight that electronic-based education can reduce the preoperative anxiety level in LC patients. Therefore, it's recommended to medical staff for delivering pre-surgery electronic educational interventions for LC surgical patients in order to reduce the level of preoperative anxiety.