"There's So Much That They're Enduring": Experiences of Older Adults Undergoing Major Elective Surgery

This qualitative study aimed to explore the psychosocial experience of older adults undergoing major elective surgery from the perspective of both the patient and family caregiver.

Older adults face unique psychological and social vulnerabilities that can increase susceptibility to poor health outcomes. How these vulnerabilities influence surgical treatment and recovery is understudied in the geriatric surgical population.

Adults aged 65 and older undergoing a high-risk major elective surgery at the University of California, San Francisco and their caregivers were recruited. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at three time points: 1 to 2 weeks before surgery, and at 1- and 3-months following surgery. An inductive qualitative approach was used to identify underlying themes.

Twenty-five older adult patients (age range 65-82 years, 60% male) and 11 caregivers (age range 53-78 years, 82% female) participated. Three themes were identified. First, older surgical patients experienced significant challenges to emotional well-being both before and after surgery, which had a negative impact on recovery. Second, older adults relied on a combination of personal and social resources to navigate these challenges. Lastly, both patients and caregivers desired more resources from the healthcare system to address " the emotional piece" of surgical treatment and recovery.

Older adults and their caregivers described multiple overlapping challenges to emotional well-being that spanned the course of the perioperative period. Our findings highlight a critical component of perioperative care with significant implications for the recovery of older surgical patients.