Acceptability of Anxiety Management within UK Armed Forces

Abstract: Background: The Department of Community Mental Health (DCMH) at RAF Brize Norton runs a regular anxiety management day (AMD) which is a group intervention for regular military personnel who have been diagnosed with anxiety-related disorders. The AMD is a 1 day course for up to 20 participants run by two community mental health nurses based at the DCMH. It contains a combination of psycho-education and generic anxiety management techniques. Aims: To establish whether the AMD is acceptable to full time regular military personnel who have been referred to the DCMH. Methods: The acceptability of the AMD was assessed using a standardized feedback form, which asked about the patient’s perception of the quality of the AMD and the course content. Feedback data were collected over a 12 month period between September 2010 and August 2011. Results: Clinical and sociodemographic data were available for 91 of the 97 (94%) participants who participated in the AMD over the period from September 2010 to August 2011. Ninety-two per cent (89/97) of participants completed a post course survey immediately after they completed the AMD. Respectively, 95 and 93% considered the format and content of the AMD to be of good quality. Conclusions: The AMD fits well with the stepped care approach of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme and resulted in a good level of patient satisfaction.