Sveva: development and evaluation of a supportive care model to reduce breast biopsy pre-operative anxiety: a randomized case-control study

In order to assess the efficacy of the Supportive Care intervention used to reduce Pre-Operative Anxiety, a randomized case-control study has been performed at the Breast Unit of the Careggi Hospital in Florence, comparing a Supportive Care Group (taking part in a colloquium) to a Control Group receiving standard care. Interventions’ efficacy was tested in 2 ANCOVAs and in a 2-ways ANOVA. Women recruited from January 2015 to February 2015 completed: The Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information (Moreman et al., 1996), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberg, 1983) and the The Mini -Module Depression (Sheehan, et al. 1998). In the first ANCOVA, Group produced a significant reduction of APAIS (p<0.01) and its Anxiety subscale (p<0.05), with a significant Trait Anxiety Covariate (p<0.01) (R2=0.16). In the second ANCOVA, Group was significant (p<0.01) and the Age Covariate was not (p>0.05) (R2=0.11). In the third 2-Ways ANOVA: Group x Depression over Pre-Operative Anxiety, Group was significant (p<0.01), (R2=0.10). In our experimental design, a Supportive Care colloquium was found to significantly reduce the level of Pre-Operative Anxiety in women undergoing Breast Biopsy when compared to Standard Care, even when the confounding effect of Trait Anxiety, Age and Depression were included in the models.