Perioperative real-time information sharing and its impact on family members' anxiety in patients undergoing elective thoracoscopic lobectomy: a single-center randomized controlled trial.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of perioperative real-time information sharing on family members' anxiety in patients undergoing elective thoracoscopic lobectomy and to explore the potential role of information sharing in reducing anxiety levels among family members.

Methods: This study was a prospective, single-center, well-designed randomized controlled trial (RCT), ensuring methodological rigor, which included family members of patients undergoing elective thoracoscopic lobectomy. Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (real-time information-sharing group) or the control group (routine information communication group). Anxiety levels were assessed at multiple time points, including preoperative (T-1), intraoperative (T1, T2, T3, T4), and postoperative (T5, T6) stages, using widely used anxiety scales: the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7). Statistical analysis was performed using independent sample t-tests, with statistical significance set at P < 0.05 based on a predefined threshold.

Results: At several key time points (T0, T1, T2, T3, T4, T5), family members in the experimental group showed significantly lower anxiety scores compared to those in the control group (P < 0.05). Notably, at T1 (when the patient entered the operating room) and T2 (30 min after the surgery began), the GAD-7 scores of the experimental group were significantly lower than those in the control group (T = 2.98, P = 0.003; T = 3.45, P = 0.001). The experimental group also had significantly lower SAS and HADS scores at time points T-1, T0, T1, T2, T3, and T4 compared to the control group.

Conclusion: Perioperative real-time information sharing has been shown to significantly reduce anxiety levels in family members of patients undergoing elective thoracoscopic lobectomy, particularly during the early stages of surgery, such as when the patient enters the operating room and 30 min after the surgery begins. Real-time information sharing may serve as an effective intervention to improve the psychological well-being of family members and is worth promoting in clinical practice.