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Effectiveness of Images in Reducing Preoperative Anxiety
Sponsor: María del Mar Perez Saavedra
Summary
Introduction: Current evidence supports the existence of preoperative anxiety and its undesirable effects during surgery and in the postoperative period. Despite numerous studies that have evaluated the effectiveness of different non-pharmacological interventions in reducing preoperative anxiety, we have not found any that use an image catalog. Objective: To evaluate the effect of an intervention based on the visualization of an image catalog on the improvement of perceived anxiety in patients undergoing upper limb orthopedic surgery. Methodology: A prospective, randomized, controlled, parallel-group clinical trial with a 1:1 ratio will be conducted. The study will include 167 patients scheduled for upper limb surgery who are over 18 years old, without blindness or decreased visual acuity that cannot be corrected with appropriate lenses. The subjects will be invited to explain the study's objective and perform baseline assessments. On the day of the surgical intervention, both groups will receive standard care, but those in the intervention group will also visualize a catalog of 8 images, 25 minutes before entering the operating room. In addition, 30 and 10 minutes before the intervention begins, all patients included in the study will have vital signs taken, be administered Spielberger's anxiety scale, visual analog scale for anxiety, and cortisol levels in saliva will be determined as measures of preoperative anxiety. The final evaluation will measure whether this intervention results in decreased anxiety, postoperative complications resulting from anxiety, and length of hospital stay.
Official title: Effectiveness of Image Visualization in Reducing Preoperative Anxiety. Pilot Study
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 99 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
167
Start Date
2026-03-01
Completion Date
2027-05-01
Last Updated
2025-03-25
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
Visualization of an image catalogue
Participants in the intervention group will be shown a catalog consisting of 8 images, each for 8 seconds, 25 minutes before entering the operating room. The images shown will be landscapes and/or objects of nature as an expression of neutrality, with light and soft colors, and will be chosen by over 50% of the research team from a gallery of 20 possible images that meet the aforementioned requirements.