Methods
’, Anxiety, pain
125 breast biopsy patients receiving standard of care (control group, CG) were compared to 125 patients (intervention group, IG) who received a brochure with information prior to the biopsy and were biopsied by physicians trained in empathic communication. Anxiety was assessed by the State-Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) at four time points (pre- and post-procedural, pre- and post-histology). All participants completed pre- and post-procedural questionnaires addressing worries, pain and comprehension. We evaluated the impact of the intervention on STAI-S levels using a log-transformed linear mixed effects model and explored patients’ and physicians’ perceptions of the procedure descriptively.