Correlation between the uncertainty in illness and anxiety in suspicious malignant patients during the diagnostic period

Abstract

Objective To study the correlation between the uncertainty in illness and anxiety in suspicious malignant patients during the diagnostic period. Methods Totally 132 suspicious malignant patients hospitalized in Difficult Disease Ward of the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University were selected as research objects by convenience sampling method from June to December 2016. Mishel's Uncertainty in Illness Scale for Adults and the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) were used to evaluate the illness in uncertainty and anxiety of patients in the third day of admission and the first day after diagnosis. SPSS 18.0 statistical software was used to analyze the relation between uncertainty in illness and anxiety by t test, χ2 test and Pearson analysis. Results The differences in the total score of uncertainty in illness, ambiguity, inscrutability, lack of information and score of anxiety were statistically significant before and after the diagnosis (t=7.757, 6.454, 3.979, 6.520, 3.739; P 0.05) . Pearson relevant analysis revealed that before diagnosis, the total score of uncertainty in illness, and the scores of ambiguity and lack of information in patients with suspicious malignant disease were positively correlated with the score of anxiety (r=0.384, 0.336, 0.342; P<0.01) ; after diagnosis, the total score of uncertainty in illness, and the scores of complexity and lack of information were positively correlated with the score of anxiety (r=0.506, 0.365, 0.410; P<0.01) . Conclusions Suspicious malignant patients had a high level of uncertainty in illness and anxiety during the diagnosis, and they were much higher before diagnosis; in addition, they were positively correlated. We should take effective measures to relieve the uncertainty in illness so as to alleviate these patients' anxiety. Key words: Diagnosis; Anxiety; Suspicious malignant disease; Uncertainty in illness