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Patients undergoing abdominal surgeries have a chance to experience surgical-related anxiety. But the most effective non-pharmacological interventions in managing this anxiety have not yet been identified.
To examine the effectiveness of different types of non-pharmacological interventions, and identify the effective components on pre- and postoperative anxiety management among patients undergoing abdominal surgeries.
A systematic search of randomized control trials (RCTs) examined the effects of non-pharmacological interventions on preoperative and/or postoperative anxiety (Primary outcomes) among patients undergoing abdominal surgery was conducted across MEDLINE, Ovid Nursing, AMED, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, HyRead, and WANFANG DATA from 1987 to March 1, 2024. Secondary outcomes including postoperative pain, postoperative analgesics consumption, resumption of postoperative bowel movements, and length of hospital stay were also examined. Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool (version 2.0) was used for quality assessment. Meta-analysis was performed to synthesize the findings. Narrative summaries were provided for the studies that could not be included in the meta-analysis.
This review included 35 RCTs. The interventions of included studies were categorized as prehabilitation, sensory stimulation, preoperative counseling, information provision, and psychological interventions. Meta-analysis revealed that preoperative counseling was beneficial in managing preoperative anxiety (SMD = −1.36; 95% CI = −1.96, −0.76), postoperative anxiety (SMD = −1.30; 95% CI = −1.62, −0.98), and postoperative pain (SMD = −0.84; 95% CI = −1.21, −0.47). Meanwhile, psychological interventions adopting relaxation exercises had potential effects in reducing postoperative opioid consumption and shortening time to postoperative bowel movement.
Adopting preoperative counseling is suggested for the management of pre- and postoperative anxiety and postoperative pain among patients undergoing elective abdominal surgeries. A one-off lasting for 20–45 min preoperative counseling including individualized information about the coming surgery and perioperative process, and a discussion addressing patients' concerns is recommended. Future research is needed to explore the effects of relaxation exercise on important patients' outcomes such as postoperative analgesics consumption and time to resume bowel movement among patients undergoing abdominal surgery.
PROSPERO registration number: CRD42023359484
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