title: Information, social support and anxiety before gastrointestinal endoscopy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress theory regarding the effects of the stress mediators information and perceived social support on anxiety (as the stress response) regarding gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy (as the stressor) in male and female patients of various age groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Non-experimental design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Structured interviews were conducted with 113 hospital out-patients about to undergo GI endoscopy. Participants indicated their perceptions of how much support and how much clear and useful information they had received from both their general practitioner (GP) and a patient information leaflet developed in collaboration with health psychologists as well as their perceptions of how much social support they had obtained from other patients, family and friends. Anxiety was measured with a population-specific trait and state adaptation of the Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS-A).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Psychometric exploration of the HADS-A revealed a single general anxiety factor. The reliability of this factor was high, with Cronbach's alpha=0.91. The majority of the sample experienced high anxiety levels. Gender, but not age, differences emerged, showing females to be more anxious than males, F(1, 84)=5.68, p<.05. A regression model built on stress theory was tested, with anxiety as the dependent variable and 11 predictor variables. The model was significant with R(2)=0.452, F(11, 47)=3.522 and p=0.001.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clarity, but not the amount, of information and social support from important others, but not GPs, were both mediating the stress experience of the patients by reducing their perceived anxiety.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Sciences and Law (Psychology Section), University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eberhardt
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Wersch
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Schaik
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011594:Psychometrics; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires