Table 3.

Characteristics of the included studies on other GI cancers.

Study/Reference	Study design	Sample size	Cancer type	Assessment for anxiety	Nursing methods and protocols	Main findings
(28) China	Cohort	60 patients	Liver cancer	SAS	Comprehensive Nursing Approach. Protocol: 1. Preoperative care: introduced hospital ward environment, on-site lectures on negative psychology, explanation of successful treatment cases, helping the reduce avoid vasospasm negative psychology. 2. Intraoperative care: Reduced the patient’s tension and avoid vasospasm. 3. Postoperative nursing: Taken rest in bed for 1 day after surgery and move their bodies slightly.	The SAS scores of patients in the comprehensive nursing group were significantly lower than that of the conventional group (P<0.05). In addition, comprehensive nursing approach ensure a smooth operation, improve postoperative quality of life, reduce postoperative adverse reactions, and enhancing patients’ satisfaction.
(29) China	Cohort	105 patients	Liver cancer	Zung SAS	Comprehensive nursing care Protocol: 1. Preoperative care: providing some information related to the surgery to bridge gap between nursing staff and patients. 2. Postoperative care: Communicating with patients about their pain and other adverse effects. Explaining and providing the overcoming measures of adverse effects.	Pre- and post-operative comprehensive nursing care relieved the anxiety status of the patients and improved the quality of life patients who underwent surgeries for liver cancer.
(26) China	Retrospective study	80 patients	Gallbladder cancer	HAMA	Target nursing care. Protocol: The interventions included medication care, diet care, health advice for admission, preoperative and postoperative care, psychotherapy and progressive muscle, relaxation therapy and instructions for the surgical management.	Patients with target nursing care showed significantly lower HAMA scores than the control group (P<0.01). Besides, the study group also showed more promising effects on depression than the control group (P<0.01). However, target nursing care did not significantly improve the quality of life before and after intervention.
(16) China	Cohort	155 patients	Esophageal cancer	SAS	High-quality nursing. Protocol: Psychological nursing: communication, solving patient’s problems, explaining the knowledge of esophageal cancer, precautions after operation and possible complications; Pain care: Keeping a comfortable posture, breathe deeply and relax, diverting patient’s attention by movie, music, and chatting; Nutritional nursing: applying Peptisorb, Nutrison, etc; Respiratory tract nursing; Nursing care of the incision; Nursing of respiratory function training.	The SAS scores of patients with high-quality nursing were significantly lower than the control group (P <0.05). Additionally, the pain scores and depressive scores were also remarkably decreased after interventions. Furthermore, high-quality nursing could reduce pain and adverse events and promote rehabilitation.

STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; SAS, self-rating anxiety scale; HAMA, Hamilton anxiety scale.