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Psychological factors influencing the surgical patients' consent to regional anaesthesia
Author(s) -
PAPANIKOLAOU M. N.,
VOULGARI A.,
LYKOURAS L.,
ARVANITIS Y.,
CHRISTODOULOU G. N.,
DANOU–ROUSSAKI A.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.1994.tb03960.x
Subject(s) - eysenck personality questionnaire , neuroticism , medicine , extraversion and introversion , anxiety , personality , anesthesia , informed consent , elective surgery , general anaesthesia , rating scale , regional anaesthesia , psychiatry , clinical psychology , big five personality traits , psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , alternative medicine , pathology
To investigate the preoperative attitude of surgical patients to regional anaesthesia, 162 subjects scheduled for elective surgery were studied. On the day before operation, patients were interviewed by an anaesthesio–logist, using a semi–structured schedule. Topics investigated were sociodemographic variables and clinical correlates, such as past anaesthetic experience, information about anaesthesia and surgery, as well as questions and fears related to anaesthesia. Subjects were assessed for personality characteristics and emotional symptoms by Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Zung's Self–rating Anxiety and Depression Rating Scales, Schalling–Sifneos' Personality Scale and the 43–item Life Events Inventory of Holmes and Rahe. Seventy–one patients (44%) consented to regional anaesthesia. Consent to regional anaesthesia was associated with advanced age, low neuroticism and high extroversion score in the EPQ, as well as longer duration of illness. The deniers of consent asked more questions and expressed more fears about anaesthesia. It is suggested that the patients' characteristics influence their preference, acceptance or refusal of regional anaesthesia.