Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T19:12:11.140Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationship between pre-operative anxiety and post-operative state

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Marie Johnston  and
Lucy Carpenter
Marie Johnston*
Affiliation:
Department of Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford
Lucy Carpenter
Affiliation:
Department of Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Marie Johnston, Academic Department of Psychiatry, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Pond St, London NW3 2QG.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Janis (1958) has proposed a curvilinear relationship between pre-operative anxiety and post-operative emotional state. While other hypotheses share the prediction of a poor outcome for patients with pre-operative high anxiety, Janis' theory is unique in predicting a poor outcome for those with low anxiety. Subsequent research has failed to confirm Janis' hypotheses, perhaps because the designs have been insensitive to the predictions for low anxiety patients.

The current study tests the hypothesis more directly and finds some support for a linear relationship between pre-operative anxiety and post-operative negative affect, with no support for Janis' curvilinear hypothesis. On the whole, pre-operative anxiety was a poor predictor of other measures of recovery but, on one measure, patients with low anxiety showed a slower recovery than those with moderate anxiety, i.e. supporting the prediction of a poor outcome for low anxiety patients.

The implications of these results for pre-operative preparation of surgical patients and the development of theories of anxiety are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , May 1980 , pp. 361 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrew, J. M. (1970). Recovery from surgery, with and without preparatory instructions, for three coping styles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 15, 223–226.Google Scholar
Chapman, J. S. (1970). Effects of different nursing approaches on psychological and physiological responses. Nursing Research Report 5, 1–7.Google Scholar
Cohen, F. & Lazarus, R. (1973). Active coping processes, coping dispositions, and recovery from surgery. Psychosomatic Medicine 35, 375–389.Google Scholar
Egbert, L. D., Battit, G. E., Welch, C. E. & Bartlett, M. K. (1964). Reduction of post-operative pain by encouragement and instruction of patients. New England Journal of Medicine 270, 825–827.Google Scholar
Hayward, J. C. (1975). Information: a prescription against pain. In The Study of Nursing Care, Project Reports Series 2, No. 5. Royal College of Nursing: London.Google Scholar
Janis, I. L. (1958). Psychological Stress. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Janis, I. L. (1971). Stress and Frustration. Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich: New York.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. E., Dabbs, J. M. & Leventhal, H. (1970). Psychosocial factors in the welfare of surgical patients. Nursing Research 19, 18–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, J. E., Leventhal, H. & Dabbs, J. M. (1971). Contributions of emotional and instrumental response processes in adaptation to surgery. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 20 55–64.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. E., Rice, V. H. & Endress, M. P. (1975). Making psychological concepts concrete for medical education.In Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference on Research in Medical Education, pp. 125–130. Association of American Medical College: Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Johnston, M. (1980). Anxiety in surgical patients. Psychological Medicine 10, 145–152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnston, M. & Hackman, A. (1977). Cross-validation and response sets in repeated use of mood questionnaires. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 16, 235–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leventhal, H. (1970). Findings and theory in the study of fear communication. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Vol. 5(ed. Berkowitz, L.), pp. 120–186. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Martinez-Urrutia, A. (1975). Pain and anxiety in surgical patients. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 43, 437–442.Google Scholar
Schmitt, F. E. & Wooldridge, P. J. (1973). Psychological preparation of surgical patients. Nursing Research 22, 108–116.Google Scholar
Sime, M. (1976). Relationship of pre-operative fear, type of coping, and information received about surgery to recovery from surgery. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34, 716–724.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L. & Lushene, R. E. (1970). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Consulting Psychologists Press: Palo Alto, California.Google Scholar
Volicer, B. J. (1978). Hospital stress and patients' reports of pain and physical status. Journal of Human Stress 4, 28–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, B., Williams, J. G. L. & Jones, J. R. (1972). The measurement and control of pre-operative anxiety.Paper presented at the 12th Annual meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research:Boston,November 1972.Google Scholar
Wolfer, J. A. & Davis, C. E. (1970). Assessment of surgical patients' pre-operative emotional condition and postoperative recovery. Nursing Research 19, 402–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar