The relationship between perceptions of care and rehabilitation and quality of recovery in fragile elderly patients undergoing knee replacement surgery

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between postoperative care and rehabilitation perceptions and recovery quality in frail patients who underwent knee arthroplasty. The sample of this descriptive and correlational study consisted of 136 patients who had undergone knee arthroplasty. Data were collected using the Patient Descriptive Characteristics Form, the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS), the Patient Care and Rehabilitation Perception Scale (PCRPS), and the Quality of Recovery-40 Questionnaire (QoR-40). Data were obtained through face-to-face interviews.Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to evaluate the relationships between the scales, and linear regression analysis was used to assess the effects of the scales on each other. The mean age of the patients, the majority of whom were female (93.4%), was 70.07 ± 4.25 years. Patients were classified as mildly frail (8.56 ± 1.33), and their mean scores for the PCRPS and QoR-40 were 65.59 ± 9.57 and 159.38 ± 16.17, respectively.A statistically significant negative correlation was found between EFS scores and PCRPS, QoR-40 total and subscale mean scores, whereas a statistically significant positive correlation was observed between PCRPS and QoR-40 total and subscale mean scores (p < 0.05). The EFS was identified as a negative predictor of the QoR-40 total and subscale scores, while the PCRPS and all its subscale scores were identified as positive predictors.In conclusion, frailty as well as patients' perceptions of care and rehabilitation were found to be influential factors affecting the quality of recovery in older patients undergoing knee arthroplasty (p < 0.05). Based on these findings, it is recommended that nursing interventions addressing the pathophysiology of frailty within patient-centered care and practices aimed at improving care and rehabilitation perceptions of frail older adults should not be overlooked in the nursing care process. Keywords: Knee arthroplasty, Older adults, Frailty, Care perception, Rehabilitation, Guality of recovery Thesis Supervisor: Assoc. Dr. Gülden KUCUKAKCA CELIK Page Number: 61