Effect of psychological care given to the women who underwent hysterectomy before and after the surgery on depressive symptoms, anxiety and the body image levels*

Abstract

This study was conducted for the purpose of evaluating the effect of the psychological care given to women before and after hysterectomy surgery on depression levels, anxiety and body image. This experimental study was conducted in the gynecological oncology surgery clinic of Samsun Education and Research Hospital in Turkey between the dates of January 2018 and June 2018. Those who meet the sample selection criterion and agreed to participation to the study among the women who were admitted to the clinic for hysterectomy were assigned randomly to the experimental and control groups. 42 women in total including 21 women in each of experimental and control groups formed the sample of the study. The effect of the psychological care was evaluated through Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Body Catherix Scale (BCS). The evaluation measurements were conducted as pre-test, post-test and follow-up (2-months post-test). The BDI and STAI scores of the women who receive psychological care have decreased and their BPS scores have increased. On the contrary, BDI and STAI scores of the women who receive psychological care in the experimental group have increased and their BCS scores have decreased. These findings show that psychological care has positive effects on depressive symptoms, anxiety and the body image in the women who underwent hysterectomy. IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? Having a hysterectomy impacts a woman’s life in a significant manner. As such, deciding to undergo a hysterectomy is a difficult process for women, especially from a psychological perspective. Following a hysterectomy, women commonly experience changes in body perception, such as perceiving the body as different, feeling disabled, feeling hollow, believing they are different than other women and feeling that their body is attracting notice. The literature reports that women perceive themselves as different, alienated, impaired and changed after a hysterectomy and that they have difficulty making contact with the environment; furthermore, the more changes in body perception increase, the more depression increases. What the results of this study add? This study revealed that psychological care given to women before and after undergoing a hysterectomy decreases anxiety and increases positive body perception. For this reason, psychological care for women undergoing hysterectomies should be part of routine nursing care and should be started upon the hospitalisation of the patient. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The findings of this study indicate that after a hysterectomy, women experience not only physiological disease symptoms but also psychological problems. Therefore, women who have undergone or will undergo a hysterectomy also have psychological needs. Further study is suggested to determine what can be done with a professional team to meet the demands for psychological care.