A study by the American
Psychological Association (APA) examined the influence of demographic
characteristics, psychological reactions, functionality, coping
strategies, and social support on psychosocial adjustment to lower-limb
amputation ten months following surgery. Results of this longitudinal
study supported the need to improve psychological screening and early
treatment of anxiety symptoms before the surgery, as well as depression
and traumatic stress symptoms after a lower limb amputation, and the
promotion of social support over time, in order to promote psychosocial
adjustment to amputation.
Of
an initial referral of 206 Portuguese patients, a sample of 86 patients
who underwent a lower-limb amputation due to type 2 diabetes were
evaluated during the hospitalization that preceded surgery, at inpatient
follow-up consultations one, six, and ten months after surgery.
Researchers
found that patients with higher levels of anxiety symptoms and
functionality at pre-surgery were associated with lower social
adjustment to amputation and with higher adjustment to the limitations,
respectively. Traumatic stress symptoms were negatively associated with
general and social adjustment, and with the adjustment to the
limitations, the study found. Perceived social support mediated the
relationship between traumatic stress symptoms and adjustment to the
limitations.
Men were
associated with a higher anxiety and depression symptoms and with a
higher level of functionality, the study found. Men were also associated
with functionality at pre-surgery and post-surgery, and with anxiety
and depression symptoms of pre-surgery.
The article was published online in August in APA Psychnet.
