Surgery before elective guinal hernia surgery about watching videos on the internet and anxiety of patients who don't monitor comparison of their situations

Aim In our study, it was aimed to compare the anxiety levels of patients diagnosed with inguinal hernia in the outpatient clinic and scheduled for surgery, by questioning those who watched a video about the upcoming surgery on social media platforms with their own means and those who did not, before the operation. Material and Method Patients who were scheduled for elective inguinal hernia surgery at Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University Hospital's General Surgery Clinic between December 2023 and May 2024 were included in the study. They were divided into two groups based on whether or not they watched a surgery video on any social media platform before the surgery. The patients were asked about their age, gender, educational level, prior surgery history, whether they previously underwent inguinal hernia surgery, which social media platform they watched the surgery video on, whether they watched the entire video, how watching the surgery video affected their anxiety levels, and whether they found the posting of surgery videos on social platforms to be beneficial. Results Out of 185 patients who were given the questionnaire, 171 patients (92.4%) responded. It was determined that among those who watched the surgery video, the mean age was significantly lower (t = 5.788; p <0.001), and the educational level was statistically significantly higher (χ² = 8.747; p = 0.013). In addition, the state anxiety level of patients who watched the surgery video was found to be statistically significantly higher than that of those who did not (t = 2.297; p = 0.023). Conclusion In patients scheduled for elective surgery due to inguinal hernia, watching videos of the surgery to be performed on social media platforms before the procedure did not affect their trait anxiety level but significantly increased their state anxiety level. Therefore, we recommend that videos presented to patients via social media be prepared by healthcare professionals who filter them through a certain level of education and expertise before they are offered. Keywords: Inguinal hernia, Anxiety, Video, Social media