Evaluation of individual education effect on anxiety in elderly candidates for open-heart surgery

Background: The presence of pain and anxiety in a patient affects the results and, therefore, the process of healing, as well as the postoperative complications. Therefore, this study was performed to gauge the effect of individual education-supported needs assessment on anxiety among elderly patients who were candidates for open-heart surgery.Method: This quasi-experimental study was carried out in Iran in 2019. Sixty-one patients, who were candidates for open-heart surgery and aged 60 years or older, were divided into two groups: experiment and control. The patients within the control group received routine care, and therefore, the patients with the intervention received education-supported needs assessment in addition to routine care. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to assess the patients’ anxiety levels. All analysis was performed in SPSS v19 with a significance level of 0.05.Results: The demographic variables were similar in both groups (p <0.05). The mean scores of both the state and the trait anxiety among the patients in the intervention group decreased significantly after the intervention (p <0.05). The mean scores of both the state and the trait anxiety among the patients in the control group were similar before and after the intervention (p>0.05).Conclusion: Individual education based on needs assessment among elderly patients is an effective strategy for reducing their anxiety before open-heart surgery.