Preoperative Anxiety Levels in Surgical Patients: A Comparison of Three Different Scale Scores

The aim of this study was to compare Anxiety Specific to Surgery Questionnaire (ASSQ) with Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) in the assessment of preoperative anxiety level and to evaluate the fears associated with surgery and anesthesia in surgical patients.

This is descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional study.

The study sample included 507 surgical patients in four surgery wards who underwent elective surgery. All the data were collected using The Descriptive Characteristics and Clinical Information Form, STAI, APAIS and ASSQ.

A majority (70.8%) of the participants had fears associated with surgery and anesthesia and nearly half of them had a moderate level of preoperative anxiety. Anxiety prevalence was 46.4% according to the APAIS, 44.4% according to STAI and 49.3% according to ASSQ. Women, participants with no primary school education, participants undergoing major surgery and general anesthesia who did not have knowledge about the surgical procedure, and surgical complications had higher anxiety according to three scale scores.

Nearly half of the participants had moderate/high preoperative anxiety, there were consistent results among the scales and the tools were interchangeable to evaluate the preoperative anxiety level in the surgical patients.