The Experience of Loneliness Among Patients During the Perioperative Period

Overview

The experience of illness and hospitalization exerts a great deal of psychological distress, one of the most distressful events people might experience throughout their life times. Surgery and anesthesia with their accompanying loss of control, fear of being unconscious and invaded, and expectation of postoperative pain adds appreciably to that stress and anxiety. Current psycho-physiological research has provided evidence on the alarming possibility of the aversive affects of hospitalization stress on the patients' already deteriorated physical health and marked interference with their recovery. As an additional stressor, which may partly be related to the hospital staff, and partly to the person's illness and expected surgery is loneliness. Loneliness is a painful experience that is, commonly, not embraced and which has consequences that are detrimental to one's emotional, physical and spiritual well being. The present study explores the qualitative aspects of loneliness (via questionnaires) in two patient populations: (1) patients facing surgery, and (2) patients who have already undergone surgery. In addition, family members \[i.e. those waiting outside of the operating room\] will be given a questionnaire, and these three groups will be compared to the general population.

The modern hospital environment is generally perceived to provide a safe and healing environment for people inflicted with a variety of illnesses, be it for short term visits and minor health problems or more serious conditions requiring long term treatment and care. However, the experience of illness and hospitalization nonetheless exerts a great deal of psychological distress, one of the most distressful events people might actually experience in their life time \[1\]. From the outset, illness itself is a major stressor on one's life. However, surgery, with its accompanying loss of control, fear of being invaded, and expectation of post operative pain adds appreciably to that stress and anxiety. Current psycho-physiological research has provided evidence on the alarming possibility of the aversive affects of hospitalization stress on the patients' already deteriorated physical health and marked interference with their recovery \[1\]. Despite the best intentions of most hospital staffs, emotional distance and depersonalization of the patients might be their natural reaction in dealing with the harsh reality of the patients' ill fate and enormous demands of their responsibilities without being burned out or losing their focus of attention on treatment tasks. As an additional stressor, which may partly be related to the hospital staff, and partly to the person's illness and expected surgery is Loneliness. Loneliness is a painful experience that is, commonly, not embraced and which has consequences that are detrimental to one's emotional, physical and spiritual well being \[2,3\]. Lonely individuals tend to exhibit negative intrapersonal traits like pessimism \[2,4\]. Loneliness was found to be negatively correlated with happiness \[5\] and life satisfaction \[6\]. It has been linked to such maladies as depression, hostility, alcoholism, poor self-concept, and psychosomatic illnesses \[3\]. Study design The present study will explore the qualitative aspects of loneliness \[not its intensity\] in two patient populations: (1) patients facing surgery, and (2) patients who have already undergone surgery. In addition, family members \[i.e. those waiting outside of the operating room\] will be given a questionnaire, and these three groups will be compared to the general population. The loneliness questionnaire is a 60 item yes/no questionnaire that will examine the quality of the loneliness that the participant may experience (enclosed with the proposal). Additionally, there will be demographic questions, and information will be sought about the illness of the patient, the number of hospitalization days, and previous hospitalizations or surgeries.