Can 40 seconds of compassion reduce patient anxiety?

Purpose: To use a standardized videotape stimulus to assess the effect of p hysician compassion on viewers' anxiety, information recall, treatment deci sions, and assessment of physician characteristics, Participants and Methods: One hundred twenty-three healthy female breast ca ncer survivors and 87 women without cancer were recruited for this study. A randomized pretest/posttest control group design with a standardized video tape intervention was used, Participants completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), an information recall test, a compassion rating, and phys ician attribute rating scales, Results: Women who saw an "enhanced compassion" videotape rated the physici an as warmer and more caring, sensitive, and compassionate than did women w ho watched the "standard" videotape. Women who saw the enhanced compassion videotape were significantly less anxious after watching it than the women in the other group, Nevertheless, information recall was relatively low for both groups, and enhanced compassion did not influence patient decisions. Those who saw the enhanced compassion videotape rated the doctor significan tly higher on other positive attributes, such as wanting what was best for the patient and encouraging the patient's questions and involvement in deci sions, Conclusion: The enhanced compassion segment was short, simple, and effectiv e in decreasing viewers' anxiety. Further research is needed to translate t hese findings to the clinical setting, where reducing patient anxiety is a therapeutic goal. J Clin Oncol 17:371-379, (C) 1999 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.