Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background: Digital education for outpatient atrial fibrillation (AF) patients is gradually increasing. However, research on digital education for patients with atrial fibrillation catheter ablation (AFCA) is limited.
Objective: Our aim is to develop a new multi-stage education model based on digital animation and to evaluate its effect on quality of life and negative mood in AFCA patients.
Methods: This randomized, controlled clinical trial included 208 AF patients who underwent catheter ablation in the Department of Cardiology at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University between January 2022 and August 2023. Patients were randomly assigned to the digital animation intervention group (n=104) and the usual care group (n=104). The primary outcome was the difference in the Quality of Life in patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF-Qol-18) scores at 3 months. Secondary outcomes included differences in Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5) score, self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) score, and self-rating depression scale (SDS) score at 3 months.
Results: The main outcome of the study is the change in quality of life at 3 months after discharge from AFCA, secondary outcomes of the study were improvements in patients' anxiety, depression, and medication adherence. In the digital animation intervention group, the AF-Qol-18 score increased from 38.02 (SD 6.52) to 47.77 (SD 5.74), the MARS-5 score increased from 17.04 (SD 3.03) to 20.13 (SD 2.12), the SAS score decreased from 52.82 (SD 8.08) to 45.39 (SD 6.13), and the SDS score decreased from 54.12 (SD 6.13) to 45.47 (SD 5.94). In the usual care group, the AF-Qol-18 score increased from 36.97 (SD 7.00) to 45.31 (SD 5.71), the MARS-5 score increased from 17.14 (SD 3.01) to 18.47 (SD 2.79), the SAS score decreased from 51.83 (SD 7.74) to 47.31 (SD 5.87), and the SDS score decreased from 52.78 (SD 5.21) to 45.37 (SD 6.18).
Conclusions: This educational model effectively improves postoperative anxiety, depression, medication adherence, and quality of life in patients at 3 months post-discharge.