Effects on Anxiety and Vital Signs of the Emotional Freedom Technique and Music Before Surgery for Lumbar Disc Hernia.

CONTEXT

Patients hospitalized for surgical treatment for lumbar disc herniation (LDH) are adversely affected psychologically, with fury, anger, helplessness, anxiety, and depression being observed in patients. Anxiety in particular is a common problem, with an incidence of around 90%.

OBJECTIVE

This study intended to determine the effects on patients' anxiety and vital signs of the emotional freedom technique (EFT) and music before LDH surgery.

DESIGN

The research team designed a quasi-experimental study.

SETTING

The research was carried out in the neurosurgery clinic of a university hospital in Turkey.

PARTICIPANTS

Participants were 162 adult patients at the clinic who had LDH surgery between February 2018 and September 2019.

INTERVENTION

Using the nonprobability sampling method, participants were allocated to one of three groups: (1) 54 to the music group, an intervention group; (2) 54 patients to the EFT group, an intervention group; and (3) 54 to the control group.

OUTCOME MEASURES

The Patient Information Form, the Life Findings Form, the Subjective Units of the Distress Scale (SUDS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State Anxiety (STAI-S), were used to collect data. In the data analysis, the numbers, percentages, means, standard deviations, and chi-square values were found, and the t test and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in the dependent and independent groups, respectively. The Tukey test was used for further analysis.

RESULTS

EFT and music were determined to significantly reduce participants' state anxiety and subjective discomfort (P < .001). EFT significantly reduced the pulse and respiratory rates and the systolic blood pressure, and music significantly lowered the diastolic and systolic blood pressures (P < .05). Further analyses showed that EFT was more effective on state anxiety and reducing the respiratory rate than music.

CONCLUSIONS

Both music and EFT before LDH surgery reduced anxiety and regulated vital signs, and EFT was found to be more effective than music in regulating anxiety and respiratory rate.