Fear of movement, patient mobility and affecting factors in patients with total knee prosthesis

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate fear of movement, patient mobility and factors affecting mobility in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Method: The research is descriptive and correlational. The study was conducted with 205 patients who underwent total knee replacement in Orthopedics and Traumatology clinics between October 2019 and December 2022. The data were collected with the "Descriptive Characteristics Form", "Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale" and "Patient Mobility Scale" prepared by the researcher in line with the literature. Results: The mean score of the Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale was 40.47±7.01 (min-max: 17-68) and the mean score of the Patient Mobility Scale was 79.94±18.92 (min-max: 0-120). It was found that patients living alone and patients who were more actively mobilized in the preoperative period had lower kinesiophobia. There was a negative correlation between kinesiophobia and educational level (r=-0.281) and a weak positive correlation with age (r=0.228). There was a moderate (r=0.463) positive correlation between kinesiophobia and patient mobility. Having bilateral knee replacement surgery (β=0.216) and increasing kinesiophobia score (β=0.465) were independently positively associated with mobility scores. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that kinesiophobia negatively affected patient mobility in patients undergoing total knee replacement. In addition, age, education and having double knee replacement were found to be associated with kinesiophobia. In order to increase the mobility levels of patients, nurses should be aware of the fear of movement and implement nursing interventions to reduce kinesiophobia. Key words: Fear of movement, Kinesiophobia, Patient mobility, Surgical nurse, Total knee replacement