Effect of Psychoeducational Training Program on Coping Skills, Spiritual Well-being, and Levels of Anxiety among Patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

Context: Generalized anxiety disorder is one of the most common mental disorders that produce fear, worry, and a constant feeling of being overwhelmed. Spiritual well-being is a positive psychological factor linked to lower anxiety levels in GAD patients. One of the most important elements of having GAD is learning how to cope with persistent anxiety and physical symptoms.

Aim: Evaluate the effect of the psychoeducational training Program on coping skills, spiritual well-being, and anxiety levels among patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Methods: A quasi-experimental (pre/post-test) design was used. This study was carried out at the General Psychiatric Clinic of El Abbassia Psychiatric and Mental Health Hospital. The study involved 80 patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Data was collected over six months utilizing four tools. They were used for data collection: A Structured Interview questionnaire, a Coping Strategies Questionnaire, a Spiritual Well-being Scale, and a Beck Anxiety Scale.

Results: The present study shows that more than half of patients with generalized anxiety disorder under study were in the age of <30 years (57.5%) with a mean age of 24.5±8.33. While 28 % had satisfactory pre-program coping, this percentage increased to 52% post-program implementation. On the other hand, 63.7% of patients with generalized anxiety disorder understudy had low levels of spiritual well-being that decreased to 9% post-program. Also, more than half of 59% of patients had severe anxiety levels at pre-program; this percentage decreased to 21% post-program implementation with a statistically significant difference between coping skills, spiritual well-being, and anxiety level pre- and post-psychoeducational training. In addition, there was a highly statistically significant correlation between the total score of spiritual well-being, coping, and their total anxiety score during the pre/post-program implementation phase (P≤ 0.001).

Conclusion: Psychoeducational training Program has a significant positive effect on improving coping skills, spiritual well-being, and levels of anxiety among patients with generalized anxiety disorder. Application of a psychoeducational nursing intervention can help patients with generalized anxiety disorder better understand the advantages of various spiritual pursuits and how to improve their spiritual well-being and coping skills.