Development of the Cardiac Surgery Patient Expectations Questionnaire (C-SPEQ)

• Published in: Quality of life research 2016-08, Vol.25 (8), p.2077-2086
• Main Authors: Holmes, Sari D., Fornaresio, Lisa M., Miller, Casey E., Shuman, Deborah J., Ad, Niv
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiac Surgical Procedures - methods; Cardiology; Cardiovascular disease; Clinical outcomes; Cognition; Coronary artery bypass; Depressive disorders; Female; Health outcomes; Heart surgery; Humans; INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT; Interviews; Likert scale; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health outcomes; Middle Aged; Patient satisfaction; Patients; Psychometrics; Psychometrics - methods; Public Health; Qualitative research; Quality of life; Quality of Life Research; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Recovery (Medical); Sociology; Surgeons; Surgery; Surgical procedures; Surgical specialties; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcome; Validation Studies as Topic
• ISSN: 0962-9343; 1573-2649
• DOI: 10.1007/s11136-016-1243-4

Purpose Some variability in recovery and outcomes after cardiac surgery may be influenced by psychosocial aspects not routinely captured. Preliminary evidence suggests patient expectations impact health status, but there is no specific measure of expectations for cardiac surgery. The purpose of this study was to adapt an expectations scale to cardiac surgery and assess the psychometric properties of the scale. Methods Before surgery, 93 patients awaiting non-emergent cardiac surgery completed questionnaires, including the adapted Cardiac Surgery Patient Expectations Questionnaire (C-SPEQ). At 1 year after surgery, 68 patients completed questionnaires. Results Mean C-SPEQ score was 39.4 ± 9.02, and scores were normally distributed (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86). Higher score indicated negative expectations. Higher presurgery C-SPEQ score was correlated with greater depression (r = 0.32, p = 0.01) and perceived stress (r = 0.36, p = 0.003), but not state anxiety (r = 0.18, p = 0.14), at one-year post-surgery. Higher C-SPEQ was associated with longer recovery time (B = 0.14, p = 0.006) and lower physical HRQL after surgery (B = -0.31, p = 0.005). Higher C-SPEQ was not related to greater odds for perioperative complications (OR 1.01, p = 0.68) or readmissions >30 days (OR 1.05, p = 0.31). C-SPEQ score was not related to survival. Conclusions Adaptation of an expectations questionnaire to cardiac surgery patients was successful with acceptable reliability and validity. Negative expectations had a detrimental impact on recovery and HRQL following cardiac surgery but were not related to clinical outcomes. Although focus is mainly on improving clinical outcomes, there are opportunities to improve non-clinical aspects of the patient experience. Presurgical education might better prepare patients, reduce negative expectations, and improve psychosocial outcomes after cardiac surgery.