Caring Behaviors and Anxiety during Surgery among Patients Undergoing Surgery with Regional Anesthesia

Purpose: This descriptive study aimed to identify the factors influencing caring behaviors and anxiety during surgery recognized by patients undergoing surgery with regional anesthesia. Methods: The subjects were 147 hospitalized patients who underwent surgery with regional anesthesia from July to September 2017. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and medical records at three orthopedics and women’s hospitals and one university hospital located in city A. The collected data were analyzed for frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, the independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression using the SPSS 27.0 program. Results: The factors influencing anxiety during surgery were caring behaviors (β=-.39, p<.001), surgical site (β=.27, p<.001), and trait anxiety (β=.21, p=.007), in descending order of influence, and the explanatory power was approximately 21%. Conclusion: Health care staff’s caring behaviors were the factor with the strongest influence on anxiety during surgery in patients undergoing surgery with regional anesthesia. Therefore, in order to alleviate anxiety during surgery, it is necessary to study the effect of developing and applying an intervention program for caring behaviors.