Instrument and outcomes

The instrument used in the present study had two parts: The first part was related to demographic characteristics, including maternal age, body mass index, education status, employment status, economic status, ethnicity, history of abortion, gestational age at the time of enrollment, and recent gestational status. The second part was the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) can be used to diagnose and differentiate between depressive syndromes. The Spielberger state-trait inventory has 40 self-reporting items that measure state anxiety (first 20 items) and trait anxiety (second 20 items). The scoring system in this inventory is based on the Likert scale ranging from 1 (very low) to 4 (very high). This scale has good validity and reliability. The items that indicate no anxiety are scored in reverse. For items 1 to 20 in each of the state and trait sections, a minimum of 20 to a maximum of 80 scores is considered. Classification of state anxiety includes mild (20–31), moderate to low (32–42), moderate to high (43–53), moderate to severe (54–64), severe (65–75), and very severe (76 and above). Also, classification of trait anxiety includes mild (20–31), moderate to low (32–42), moderate to high (43–52), relatively severe (53–62), severe (63–72), and very severe (73 and above), [30]. The validity and reliability of the Persian version of this tool have been confirmed by Mahram [33].

In this study, the STAI questionnaire was completed before and immediately after the intervention (before obtaining the amniocentesis result) in the intervention and control groups, and scores were compared between the two groups.