The influence of autogenic training on state anxiety reduction among community pharmacists in Serbia

Background: There is growing evidence that better coping with job-related anxiety among healthcare workers is important because may affect their ability to practice effectively and may put patients at risk. Objective: to investigate the effects of autogenic training (AT) to reduce state anxiety in community pharmacists. Materials and Methods: Fulltime employed community pharmacists with state anxiety assigned to experimental group practiced the AT daily at home for 8 weeks, with one group session each week. State Anxiety was self-assessed in both group by the Burns Anxiety Inventory (BAI) at baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Results: Altogether, 40 pharmacists were self assessed by BAI and experimental group showed decrease of state anxiety degree after 4 weeks and 8 weeks of AT intervention. The level of state anxiety was lower in the experimental group after 8 weeks of AT intervention (99% significance level; mean of experimental group of 2.3000 and 3.7500 for the control group). Conclusions: AT is associated with significant reduction in state anxiety in pharmacists and can be used as an easily applied technique for reducing state anxiety in community healthcare professions settings.