Effectiveness of Emotional-Focused Coping on Heart-Focused Anxiety in Patients Prior to Cardiac Catheterization.

Abstract

Background: Heart-focused anxiety involves a concentration on and a fear of cardiacrelated feelings and their anticipated negative outcomes (such as a life-threatening arrhythmia or abrupt cardiac death). It results in continuing concerns about heart function, avoiding activities that are thought to cause cardiac symptoms, and frequent behavior of requesting assistance in medical settings. This study aimed to measure the effectiveness of Emotional-Focused Coping on Heart-Focused Anxiety in Patients Prior to Cardiac Catheterization.

Materials and methods: A quasi-experimental study using (pretest and posttest design with a control group). A purposive sampling technique was used to gather the study information from 120 patients prior to cardiac catheterization by using the beck anxiety inventory scale. The study is conducted in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf Government, Al-Najaf Center for Cardiac Surgery and Trans-Catheter Therapy.

Results: A statistically significant difference is found in participant's anxiety level prior to cardiac catheterization between the first measure before applying the coping techniques and the second measure after the application of coping strategies (Mean difference =13.500, P <0.0005).

Conclusion: The emotional focused coping strategies are proving as easy interventions to apply and effective in terms of reducing the level of heart-focused anxiety prior to cardiac catheterization.