The effect of postoperative voice-related symptoms on quality of life in parents undergoing thyroidectomy

AİM: Thisstudywasconducteddescriptivelytodeterminetheeffects of postoperativesymptoms on voice-relatedquality of life in patientsundergoingthyroidectomy. MATERİALS AND METHODS: Thestudywasconductedwith 70 patientswhounderwentthyroidectomysurgery at the General SurgeryDepartment of Sakarya University Training andResearchHospitalbetweenOctober 2024 andMarch 2025. The "Voice TractDisorderScale" (VTDS) andthe "Voice-RelatedQuality of Life Scale" (VQL) wereused as datacollectioninstruments. FİNDİNGS: Whenthedemographiccharacteristics of the 70 patientsparticipating in thestudywereexamined, 81.4% werefemaleand 18.6% weremale. Whenthedistribution of theparticipants' responsestotheitems of the Voice-RelatedQuality of Life Scale (VQL) wasexamined, it wasdeterminedthat 98.6% did not hesitatetoentersocialenvironmentsbecause of theirvoice, and 1.4% weremoderatelyaffectedbytheirvoicewhenenteringsocialenvironments. Whenthedistribution of theparticipants' responsestotheSymptom/FeelingSeveritysubscaleitems of the Voice DisorderScale (VDS) wasexamined, it wasobservedthat 65.7% gave a score of 2 (mild), 27.3% gave a score of 0 (none) forpain, 5.7% gave a score of 4 (moderate), 2.9% gave a score of 1, and 1.4% gave a score of 3. As a result of thecomparisonsmade in terms of the total scores of the Voice DisorderScale (VDS) accordingtothedemographicandclinicalcharacteristics of theparticipants; Regarding total scores on thevocaltractdisorderscale, statisticallysignificantdifferenceswerefoundbetweenmarriedandsingleindividuals, betweenthosewithincomelessthantheirexpensesandthosewithincomeequaltoorgreaterthantheirexpenses, andbetweenthosewithandwithouthypertension. No significantdifferenceswerefoundbased on otherdemographicandclinicalcharacteristics. A pairwisecomparison test conductedduetodifferences in educationlevelsrevealed a significantdifference, particularlybetweenprimaryschoolandhighschool/aboveeducationlevels. RESULTS: It was observed that voice-related quality of life was not seriously affected in the majority of patients after thyroidectomy. However, it was determined that voice-related discomfort was experienced by some patients at a moderate level and that this situation varied according to demographic an clinical characteristics such as marital status, income level, presence of hypertension and level of education. It was determined that voice-related discomfort level was higher especially in individuals who graduated from primary school. Accordingly, nurses play a critical role in improving patient outcomes by early assessment of voice-related complaints during the post-thyroidectomy care process, identifying at-risk groups, and planning appropriate educational and counseling interventions. Keywords: PostoperativePeriod, Symptoms, Voice Quality, Thyroidectomy, Quality of Life