Measures of preoperative anxiety: Part two

• Published in: Anaesthesiology intensive therapy : official publication of the Polish Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy Vol. 56; no. 1; pp. 9 - 16
• Main Authors: Nowicka-Sauer, Katarzyna, Zemła, Adam, Banaszkiewicz, Dorota, Trzeciak, Bartosz, Jarmoszewicz, Krzysztof
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Poland Termedia Publishing House 01.01.2024
• Subjects: Anxiety; assessment methods; Humans; patient reported outcomes; prehabilitation; preoperative anxiety; Preoperative Care - methods; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Reproducibility of Results; Review; Surveys and Questionnaires; prehabilitation; patient reported outcomes; assessment methods; preoperative anxiety
• ISSN: 1642-5758; 1731-2531
• DOI: 10.5114/ait.2024.136508

The current literature indicates that routine evaluation of preoperative anxiety, its determinants, and patient-specific concerns is universally advocated. This aligns with the increasingly acknowledged importance of prehabilitation - a comprehensive process preparing patients for surgery. A crucial component of prehabilitation is assessing patients' mental health. Recommendations for psychological evaluations in prehabilitation encompass, inter alia, determining the severity of anxiety. This work builds on a 2019 article, which presented scales for preoperative anxiety assessment: the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS), and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). This article extends the possibilities of preoperative anxiety assessment by introducing four additional methods: the Surgical Fear Questionnaire (SFQ), the Anxiety Specific to Surgery Questionnaire (ASSQ), the Surgical Anxiety Questionnaire (SAQ), and Anesthesia- and Surgery-dependent Preoperative Anxiety (ASPA). The authors provide comprehensive details on these instruments, including scoring, interpretation, availability, and usefulness both in scientific research and clinical practice. The authors also provide the data on the availability of Polish versions of the presented methods and preliminary data on the reliability of SFQ in patients awaiting cardiac surgery. This review seems relevant for professionals in multiple disciplines, including anesthesiology, surgery, clinical psychology, nursing, primary care and notably prehabilitation. It emphasizes the necessity of individualizing anxiety assessment and acknowledging patient subjectivity, which the presented methods facilitate through a thorough evaluation of specific patient concerns. The literature review also identifies concerns and future research avenues in this area. The importance of qualitative studies and those evaluating prehabilitation intervention is emphasized.