The effect of rehabilitation education on anxiety in knee replacement patients

BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) can cause operational anxiety in patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a hospital rehabilitation program on operational anxiety in patients following TKA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A nonrandomized clinical trial was conducted on 96 patients who were total knee replacement (TKR) candidates in Milad Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The participants were allocated to two groups of control and experiment each with 48 participants. A rehabilitation training program was implemented in the experimental group and the routine care program was administered to the control group. The data collected through demographic form and Spielberger anxiety questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test, covariance, independent t-test, and paired t-test (P = 0.5). RESULTS: The results of the paired t-test indicated that the mean score of anxiety in both groups was decreased. Independent t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the mean scores of anxiety so that it was significantly higher in the control group compared to the experimental group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of the rehabilitation education by a rehab nurse can improve the surgical outcomes in patients under TKR. Despite the positive results in this study, the results should be interpreted and clinically used with caution given the small number of participants and the specific circumstances of this study.