The Relationships Between Anxiety and Perceived Illness Severity with the Needs of Patients Undergoing Open Heart Surgery

Abstract

The objective of this descriptive correlational research was to study the relationships between anxiety, the perception of illness severity, and the preoperative needs in patients undergoing open heart surgery. A sample size of 62 participants was recruited through simple random sampling at the Outpatient Cardiology Departments of hospitals affiliated with the university’s hospitals. The research instruments included forms for personal data and related data about the patients’ disease and treatment, a preoperative anxiety questionnaire, a perception of illness severity questionnaire, and a preoperative needs questionnaire. The reliability of the instruments was verified, with the instruments having Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.94, 0.87, and 0.89, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s Rank Correlation Coefficients.
The study's results indicated a moderate overall mean anxiety score. The mean scores for the overall perception of illness severity and the preoperative needs for open-heart surgery were moderate. Specifically, the average scores for preoperative needs in the sample group were high for information provision, emotional support, and physical support. In contrast, the spiritual needs were at a moderate level. The findings showed a strong positive correlation between anxiety and preoperative needs for open heart surgery, which was statistically significant at the .05 level. Additionally, the perception of illness severity had a moderate positive correlation with preoperative needs, which was also statistically significant at the .05 level. Therefore, the results of this study support the implementation of comprehensive care management that addresses informational, physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects to meet patient needs and help reduce preoperative anxiety before undergoing open-heart surgery.