REDUCING ANXIETY DURING PHASE-I CARDIAC REHABILITATION

Anxiety can produce undesired effects in patients recovering from card iac conditions including coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. Phar macological, psychological and educational interventions are used to r educe patient anxiety. This study compared the effects on state anxiet y of participation in one of two Phase I (in-patient) educational inte rventions for patients undergoing their first coronary artery bypass g rafting surgery. Subjects (n = 96) were randomly assigned to either a traditional, staff-directed intervention or an intervention based on a collaborative approach. Eighty subjects were included in the data ana lyses. Results demonstrated that subjects in the collaborative-based i ntervention had significantly less state anxiety at hospital discharge than those in the traditional intervention. The collaborative approac h offered patients opportunities to address individually identified co ncerns regarding recovery and future functioning and to exert control over facets of their hospitalization experience.