Evaluation of the anxiety levels of elective surgery planned patients in preoperative period

In human life, surgical procedures could increase the anxiety in patients since they directly affect their life. Having high levels of anxiety affects the patient and the surgical procedure. The objectives of this current study are to evaluate the pre-operative anxiety levels in patients who will receive elective surgical procedures in a private hospital in the province of Istanbul and to determine the associated factors that affect the anxiety levels. This is a descriptive research study and the survey includes 20-60 years old pre-operative patients who are admitted in inpatient care service between June 1st and October 31st 2013 and will receive elective surgical procedures. Study is performed with 163 volunteered patients who were eligible for the research. Patients in the inpatient care were met in person and their permission to be included in this study were confirmed by filling out the volunteering form. Their information is gained by filling out the personal introductory form and STAI-1= State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Data was analyzed by a statistican using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows (17,0). ANOVA; one way analysis of variance with t-test was used to analyze data. Significant differences between mean values were determined with Tukey Post Hoc Test and evaluations were based on a significance level of p<0.05 at % 95 confidence interval. As a result of this study, the mean of the anxiety levels of the pre-operative patient participants was determined as 52,675±11,570. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory cut-off score used for determining the anxiety in pre-operative state patients was 44-45 and the patients who would receive elective surgical procedures were determined to have high anxiety levels. Suggestions were made to decrease or control the anxiety levels. Keywords: anxiety, preoperational anxiety, elective surgery, state anxiety scale, surgical intervention