Anxiety Management in Primary Care: Implementing the National Institute of Clinical Excellence Guidelines

HIGHLIGHTS•Participants increased their perceived competency of their ability to treat anxiety.•Perceived competence remained stable at six weeks post-intervention.•Implementation of the guidelines correlated with higher perceived competence scores.•Cronbach's alpha for the implementation scale was 0.992.•Participants found the online NICE guidelines useful.

ABSTRACTMore than 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders, ranking them as one of the most common mental health disorders in America. The purpose of this pilot study was to educate providers on the National Institute Clinical Excellence (NICE) anxiety guidelines and monitor providers' perceived competence in managing anxiety. Results showed perceived competence increased significantly pre-intervention to immediately post-intervention (p = 0.001), and data revealed the scores did not change significantly immediately post-to six-weeks post (p = 0.170). Providers who implemented the guidelines into practice had significantly higher scores (p = 0.026) than those who did not implement the guidelines.