The effect of pre-examination information on the anxiety level for the gynecologic examination

N. Erkan, A. Gezer, D. Oztürk, E. Karamanoglu

Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Cerrahpasa School of Medicine, Istanbul University, Turkey

Objective: A cross-sectional study was performed to investigate the difference of level of anxiety between the pre-informed and uninformed patients on the gynecologic examination.

Design & Methods: 120 cases who applied the gynecology polyclinic of Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Cerrahpas¸a¸ School of Medicine, Istanbul University were randomly selected. 60 cases were informed about the scope of the gynecologic examination in a standardized manner and the 60 were examined without any information. After the examination, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was applied on the subjects. The data were analyzed by 2 and Student’s t-test. P 50.05 was accepted as statistically significant.

Results: The difference of state and trait anxiety levels was not found statistically significant between the pre-informed and uninformed groups. The mean of state anxiety was 45.5+10.7 in the pre-informed group while it was 44.9+10.2 for the uninformed group. Pre-information just before the examination was not sufficient to decrease the anxiety levels of the cases due the gynecologic examination.

Conclusion: Most of the patients want to be informed by a health personnel. However, as the pre-information just before the examination is not sufficient to diminish the anxiety levels of the patients, they should be ‘‘educated’’ extensively long before the examination to succeed this goal.