Effectiveness of patient empowerment over stress related to knee arthroplasty surgery

• Published in: Enfermería clínica 2018-05, Vol.28 (3), p.186-193
• Main Authors: Garzón-Rey, Jorge Mario, Arza-Valdés, Adriana, Nuevo-Gayoso, Montserrat, Aguiló, Jordi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arthroplasty; Artroplastia; Biomarcadores; Biomarkers; Electrocardiografía; Electrocardiography; Estrés; Knee; Nursing; Reemplazo; Replacement; Rodilla; Stress
• ISSN: 1130-8621; 2445-1479
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enfcli.2017.09.001

This study aims to show evidence of the Empowerment Session's effectiveness through measurements of surgery related emotional stress before and after this session. The study was performed on 41 patients with knee arthroplasty surgery prescription by measuring the evolution of their emotional stress generated by surgery expectative, during the empowerment session. Two sets of measurements per patient were performed, before and after the empowerment session. Each set consisted of recording an electrocardiogram for 10min while the patients were seated and then applying two standard psychometric tests: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory test and Visual Analog Stress test. Differences in emotional stress were analyzed using psychometric tests and heart rate variability (HRV) analysis as stress biomarkers. Psychometric stress measurement shows a 17.8% reduction in stress according to the total stress scale value, and a 41.9% reduction in stress between test results before and after the session. Mean heart rate values increased by 7.4% with respect to the initial values, very low frequency power and total power also change in value suggesting more sympathetic and less parasympathetic activity. Both psychological and physiological measurements suggest the effectiveness of the empowerment session due to a significant increase in the wellness state of patients. Additionally, the correlation between psychometric tests and HRV indices demonstrates that both emotional stress indicators could be used as feedback on the empowerment sessions or as a reference to enhance surgical outcomes. Este estudio tiene como objetivo dar evidencias de la eficacia de la sesión de empoderamiento a través de mediciones del estrés emocional relacionado con la cirugía antes y después de esta sesión. El estudio se realizó en 41 pacientes con prescripción de cirugía de artroplastia de rodilla durante la sesión de empoderamiento. Se realizaron 2 conjuntos de medidas por paciente, antes y después de la sesión. Cada conjunto consistió en registrar el electrocardiograma durante 10min mientras los pacientes estaban sentados y luego aplicando 2 test psicométricos estándar: test State-Trait Anxiety Inventory y escala análoga visual. Las diferencias en el estrés emocional se analizaron mediante test psicométricos y el análisis de la variabilidad del ritmo cardíaco (HRV) como biomarcadores de estrés. Los puntajes en los test psicométricos muestran una reducción del 17,8% en el estrés según el valor de la