Abstract
The main aim of the current study is to examine the changes in the components of subjective well-being (SWB) over time in patients with osteoarthritis who have undergone total hip or knee replacement surgery (arthroplasty). We are also interested in determining whether pre-operative ratings of self-reported health (SRH) status, as well as change in health status, can serve as predictors for postoperative levels of SWB. To this end, 50 participants who had been admitted to a hospital for arthroplasty completed the measures twice—first at the clinic one day before the surgery, and then at home approximately 4.5 months after the surgery. Despite the fact that there were substantial improvements in participants’ health and physical functioning after the arthroplasty, there were no changes in their ratings of general SRH, life satisfaction (LS), or negative affect (NA). The only change in SWB scores was in the level of positive affect (PA), which was significantly higher after surgery compared with the pre-operative measurement. LS, NA, and PA scores after arthroplasty were differentially predicted by health ratings, showing that, it is the cognitive-evaluative component of SWB (i.e., LS) that is mostly responsible for the association between general SRH and SWB while affective components (i.e., NA and PA) are primarily related to more specific health indicators. Our findings can assist physicians in their efforts to provide more realistic expectations for their patients undergoing surgery in terms of the physical and psychological outcome.
Highlights
The last several decades have seen an upsurge in policy and research interest in subjective well-being (SWB), which has been defined as ‘‘a person’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life’’ (Diener et al 2009, p. 63)
The main aim of the current study is to examine the changes in the components of subjective well-being (SWB) over time in patients with osteoarthritis who have undergone total hip or knee replacement surgery
We examined the change in SWB levels in a group of osteoarthritis patients approximately 4.5 months after arthroplasty
Summary
The last several decades have seen an upsurge in policy and research interest in subjective well-being (SWB), which has been defined as ‘‘a person’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life’’ (Diener et al 2009, p. 63). The last several decades have seen an upsurge in policy and research interest in subjective well-being (SWB), which has been defined as ‘‘a person’s cognitive and affective evaluations of his or her life’’ Researchers’ interest has moved away from studying the simple demographic correlates of SWB to examining and understanding the possible systemic causes and outcomes of SWB, including personality traits, life events, and health status. SWB is no longer seen as a mere outcome variable (e.g., ‘‘people are happy because they are rich’’); on the contrary, there is evidence showing that SWB can predict and lead to future behavioral and other life outcomes (e.g., ‘‘people are rich because they are happy’’) (Luhmann et al 2013; Lyubomirsky et al 2005)
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