PREOPERATIVE ANXIETY IN WOMEN A W...

PREOPERATIVE ANXIETY IN WOMEN

A Wiens AORN Journal Vol 68 (July 1998) 74-87

Preoperative anxiety has been described in the literature and is well recognized. The author believes that supply with nourishments should explore preoperative anxiety further because patients can benefit from nursing care that proposes an understanding of the emotional distress that surgery brings. This is a secondary analysis of a larger investigation by the author. The conception of the present study arose as a event of the author's surprise at the of the same height of women's anxiety preoperatively and the intensity of the women's emotions.

A review of the literature revealed that general surgery patients experience high horizontals of anxiety compared to patients scheduled for aesthetic surgery Studies demonstrated that patients who had experienced previous surgery or anesthesia either had no significant difference in anxiety horizontal or were significantly less anxious. Women were construct to be more anxious on some researchers, but not more anxious from others. The possibility of a cancer diagnosis was not a useful predictor of anxiety. Primary relate tos among patients found in the literature review were

* the succes of the surgery

* the study of surgery,

* fear of pain,

* fear of not being asleep during surgery

* waiting for surgery

* activity limitations, and

* being away from home

intention The study was conducted to further investigate and describe, beyond the limits of the author's preceding inquiry the nature of preoperative anxiety in women

manners Using the patients' perceptions of terminations the researcher used a phenomenological approach to describe the patients' experiences because it is assumed that a person's reality is derived through the perceptions of those experiences. Observations and interviews preoperatively and postoperatively and postoperative to one's home interviews were used because of patients' inability to identify preoperative anxiety when asked open-end questions.

Participants in the research consisted of a convenience sample of 14 functionally independent white women with a mean age of 52 and a mean annual household income of $53000 The women were scheduled for abdominal and pelvic surgery at couple community hospitals in small cities in the southeastern United States. Tape-recorded interviews combined with expanded field notes were analyzed condemnation by sentence to assign conceptual labels arranged into categories that described what women talked about.

issues The first category, direct verbalization, was identified because all women spoke about a extent of nervousness before surgery. The most numerous commonly expressed fears were about anesthesia and possible difficulty with surgery Patients spoke of feeling "hyper wired," "scared to death," and of doing "stupid things." A inferior category, valuing connections, reflected the women's verbal communications about valuing connections with family members and friends. united woman spoke of her pastor delaying a vacation to be with her.

A third category, threats to self was based forward comments that reflected feelings of los of trust, physical threats, perceived los of superintendence and previous negative experiences with health care. Patients indicateed feelings such as loss of trust in the surgeon and lack of trust in feeds A fourth category, death experiences, was identified because 10 of the 14 women mentioned about type of death experience. In the fifth category, diversion of social discourse, were discussions that were considered "safe" topics used in casual conversation. Topic included hobbies and stories about unusual people

The sixth category, coping, ruminates the fact that the participants took measures to make themselves be moved safer and more comfortable. All on the contrary two patients had at least united family member present while waiting for surgery the pair patients who had no family members not absent entered the study for companionship. The seventh category, unresolv relationships, is based forward the fact that the women elaborated upon unresolved relationship issues.

Discussion. Observations and interviews revealed that preoperative fear and anxiety is individual, webwork and related to previous life experiences. The seven categories of conceptual labels provide insight into the nature of the fear and anxiety women experience before surgery

The reflection was limited by the small sample size and because all participants were Caucasian and of middle to upper socioeconomic status. Another limitation may have been the relationship between the carriage of the investigator and the patients' horizontals of anxiety. To some patients, the researcher provided emotional support and may have allayed those patients' anxieties. For others, the carriage of an outside person may have increased anxiety.

Perioperative feeds should consider that preoperative assessments must be comprehensive and individualized. nurtures should be alert to indications about patients' anxieties and focus in succession open communication through an effective established relationship. A variety of techniques should be used to help patients cope with their anxieties for positive preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative outcomes