Dental anxiety: Predictive role of cognitive-attentional syndrome, mental pain, and interoceptive awareness

The aim of this study was to predict dental anxiety based on cognitive-attentional syndrome, mental pain, and interoceptive awareness. This study was descriptive research with a correlational design. The statistical population was all adults visiting private practice offices in District 4 of Tehran, Iran (1399). The sample consisted of 213 clients who were selected using convenience sampling. The Cognitive-Attentional Syndrome Questionnaire CAS-1 (Wells, 2009), the Mental Pain Scale MPS (Orbach and Mikulincer, 2003), the Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Scale IAQ) Mehling, 2012) and dental anxiety Questionnaire DAQ (Corah, 1996) were used to collect data. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze data. Results of data analysis showed that cognitive-attentional syndrome (0.14), mental pain (0.40), and interoceptive awareness (-0.21) could predict 33% of dental anxiety in clients (p=0.01). The findings of this study confirmed the role of cognitive-attentional syndrome and mental pain is increasing and the role of interoceptive awareness in reducing dental anxiety, and they could be used to develop therapeutic or preventive interventions for dental anxiety.