Title : Adding some color during a pandemic
Abstract:
Context: Anxiety disorders are the most common psychological disorders. Adult coloring books have been used to reduce anxiety; the use of coloring books is not often utilized by manufacturing employees. The use of adult coloring books has been utilized to decrease anxiety in stress inducing environments. The objective of this study was to decrease anxiety scale scores of manufacturing employees following the use of adult coloring books.
Methods: For this study, manufacturing employees participated (age= 51±3.5 year, 11.2 years employed). As cross- sectional study design, participants agreed to complete a survey, GAD-7, pre- and post- coloring one page of an Adult Coloring Book. The GAD-7 surveys and the coloring were completed at the manufacturing site often on the manufacturing floor. The sample size was collected as a convenience sample. Coloring the Adult Coloring Book page acted as the independent variable. The employee chose from 10 different images ranging from mandalas to fish and then used crayons to color the image. To determine the effect of this coloring tasks on the anxiety of the employees the Generalized Anxiety Score was completed pre-coloring and post-coloring at a 2-week follow-up. The GAD-7 is a good screening tool for panic disorder (sensitivity 74%, specificity 81%), social anxiety disorder (sensitivity 72%, specificity 80%), and post-traumatic stress disorder (sensitivity 66%, specificity 81%). Further evaluation for anxiety disorders is recommended for any individual who scores 10 points or greater on the survey, with a MCID estimated at 4 points. The mean change for the pre- and post- groups were statistical analyzed with a paired two-tail T-test.
Results: The participants in this study reported a decrease in anxiety scores as measure through the GAD-7. Mean difference between the pre-coloring score (12.5 ± 6.2) and the post-coloring score (7.2 ± 5.1) was 5.2 points (Table 1). There was a statistical difference between pre-coloring and pos-coloring (P-Value< 0.01). Tables and figures can be used to communicate the results efficiently. If tables or figures are included with the abstract, they need to be referenced in the abstract.
Conclusions: Finding suggest that is this sample of employees the use of coloring, as in adult coloring books, was an effective way to decrease anxiety scores. Along with the decrease in GAD-7 of 5.2 points which represents a MCID (MCID estimated at 4 points). The decrease in score from 12.5 to 7.2 is clinically significant because any score of 10 or greater would mean further evaluation is recommended. This study was completed during on unprecedented time, at the beginning of a worldwide pandemic. Athletic Trainers, healthcare providers, providing care to employees in manufacturing setting may seek to implement the use of adult coloring books to decrease the anxiety of employees.
