Table 4.
Various anxiety management techniques and total MDAS scores
| Anxiety management technique used (n) | Pre-treatment MDAS | Post-treatment MDAS | Mean difference | P value** | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | 95% CI | Mean (SD) | 95% CI | |||
| Single technique used | ||||||
| Referral to specialist, recall, counselling (n = 21) | 9.52 (4.3) | 7.7–11.4 | 8.54 (4.2) | 6.7–10.3 | 0.98 | 0.457 |
| Distraction only technique (n = 15) | 10.25 (3.8) | 8.3–12.2 | 7.69 (2.68) | 6.3–9 | 2.56 | 0.0416* |
| Positive reinforcement only technique (n = 49) | 10.12 (4.3) | 8.9–11.3 | 8.00 (3.08) | 7.1–8.8 | 2.12 | 0.0062* |
| Control only technique (n = 57) | 10.67 (4.6) | 9.5–11.9 | 8.91 (3.95) | 7.9–9.9 | 1.76 | 0.0309* |
| Systematic desensitization only technique (n = 10) | 11.60 (3.14) | 9.6–13.5 | 9.30 (4.19) | 6.7–11.9 | 2.30 | 0.007* |
| Rest and breaks during the procedure only (n = 39) | 10.25 (4.09) | 8.9–11.5 | 8.23 (3.51) | 7.1–9.3 | 2.02 | 0.0219* |
| Short appointment and only emergency procedure undertaken (n = 7) | 10.71 (5.31) | 6.8–14.6 | 10 (5.23) | 6.1–13.9 | 0.71 | 0.805 |
| Few combination techniques are presented below | ||||||
| Distraction, positive reinforcement, Short appointment with rest and breaks (n = 2) | 12 (3.41) | 7.3–16.7 | 11.67 (4.32) | 5.7–17.7 | 0.33 | NA |
| Positive reinforcement, control, systematic desensitization, rest and break, short appointment (n = 2) | 9.10 (5.5) | 1.5–16.7 | 7.60 (4.72) | 1.1–14.1 | 1.50 | NA |
| Positive reinforcement and control (n = 12) | 9.33 (1.53) | 8.5–10.2 | 7.67 (3.06) | 5.94–9.4 | 1.73 | 0.106 |
| Distraction, positive reinforcement, systematic desensitization, control (irrespective of length of the appointment and rest and breaks)(n = 9) | 10.13 (4.02) | 7.5–12.8 | 10 (4.84) | 6.8–13.2 | 0.13 | 0.951 |
| Significance of rest and breaks and short appointment time | ||||||
| Short appointments (irrespective of the technique used for anxiety management) (n = 31) | 9.19 (3.7) | 7.9–10.5 | 8.0 (3.89) | 6.6–9.37 | 1.19 | 0.222 |
| Rest and breaks (irrespective of the technique) (n = 149) | 9.08 (3.12) | 8.6–9.6 | 7.42 (2.5) | 7–7.8 | 1.66 | 0.001* |
| Rest and breaks, and short appointments (irrespective of the technique) (n = 13) | 10.92 (3.4) | 9.1–12.8 | 9.08 (3.59) | 7.1–11 | 1.84 | 0.192 |
CI, confidence intervals; NA, not assessable
*P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant
**Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for non-parametric data. For parametric data, paired t test was used