The effect of psycho-educational intervention on anxiety, embarrassment and concern in female patients referred to general male surgeon for colorectal examinations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of psycho-educational intervention on anxiety, embarrassment and concern in female patients referred to a male general surgeon for colorectal examinations. Target population was female patients referred to a male general surgeon for colorectal examinations at the specialist infirmary of Imam Hassan Mojtaba Hospital.

The study is a clinical trial and consists of two groups of control and intervention. Both groups are community based and pragmatic. Samples were chosen randomly and blind blinded in both groups. The sample size is 60 patients.

After project approval at the ethics and research registration committee on the Iranian clinical trial site, the researcher visited Imam Hassan Mojtaba Hospital in Darab city having a written introduction letter from Shiraz University of medical sciences and its security. After being introduced and getting permission from the authorities, he will precede the following steps: Since, patient's appointment at Darab Hospital takes place on the morning of admission day and the patients are visited by a general surgeon on the same admission day, the researcher went to the hospital's specialist infirmary on the morning of admission and by introducing himself and presenting the introduction letter from the hospital, begins his work; he will introduce himself to patients who have appointment with the general surgeon and asks about their referral cause to the general surgeon, he identifies patients who have referred to a doctor for colorectal problems. After sample selection, the nature of the research and its implementation are explained to patients and their optional participation aspect will be pointed, then a written consent letter is taken from patients knowingly. According to the surgeon visitation hour, samples of the test group will be matched to be present at the infirmary one hour earlier than the visitation start and the group samples are coordinated to be there 15 minutes earlier than the visitation start. The blinding technique is like that those who give the questionnaires to patients and collect them, and the statistician who performs the data analysis do not know the groups, also a visitation day is assigned separately to the test group and another day is dedicated to the control group. Patients in the training group are asked to not talk about the information given in the training sessions with other people. Similarly, the necessary samples are collected.

The criteria for entering the study were as follows: Female patients referring to infirmary who require colorectal examinations and have following entry criteria will be included in the study: 1. Age range 18-60 years 2. Tendency to participate in research 3. Possibility to attend the sessions in person, in the training group patients Exclusion criteria includes: 1. Having known mental illnesses such as chronic depression, psychosis and anxiety. 2. Participation in the same training sessions along with study three months before. 3. Failure to attend in more than two sessions. 4. Patients who will be trained but will not examined.

160/5000 The intervention group consists of female patients who refer to the male general surgeon for colorectal examinations to the specialized clinic of the Imam Hassan Mojtaba Hospital in Darab.

Anexiety, embarrassment, concern about judgment

Shiraz university of medical sciences

Sample selection: the method of selecting admission days of this surgeon for the intervention and control group will be randomly and by using random number table in block method. Visitation days for the mentioned surgeon will be done by randomized block design, and weekdays will be allocated to two groups through block method. First, the researcher constitutes different permutations of A (indicating the visitation date of intervention group) and B (indicating the visitation date of control group) which consist of 6 different modes: for example (1-AABB, 2-ABAB… 6-ABAB). Then to select specific days for control group and intervention group from the table, randomly moves his finger from a point in the random number table in a row or column direction. If a number between one and six is observed, its permutation will be noted. For example, if the number 6 appears, we note ABAB's permutation. In this way, the examination days will be allocated by the surgeon to intervention group (receiving training) and control group (without training). The method of sample selection in this research is done randomly using a random number table; so the researcher selects 10 people randomly from the list of people who have taken appointment for colorectal examinations on the mentioned surgeon visitation day. The researcher trains those 10 people in two rounds and two groups of five before being visited. Selection method in the control group will be the same. The control group members without training will complete the questionnaire 15 minutes before the visit.

The blinding technique is like that those who give the questionnaires to patients and collect them, and the statistician who performs the data analysis do not know the groups, also a visitation day is assigned separately to the test group and another day is dedicated to the control group. Patients in the training group are asked to not talk about the information given in the training sessions with other people. Similarly, the necessary samples are collected.