Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between selected variables (i.e., pain issues, hernia characteristics, and personal attributes) and postoperative health-related quality of life in inguinal hernia patients. This study identified preoperative variables predictive of lower postoperative health-related quality of life. The study entailed non-experimental retrospective analyses of variables generated during an ongoing longitudinal cooperative clinical study to examine patient outcomes after inguinal hernia repair. Fourteen Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in the continental United States participated in the study. Data were collected from eligible participants upon entry into the project and at 3 months post-surgery. The sample consisted of 560 veteran participants. Canonical analyses were used to examine the relationship of pain issues, hernia characteristics, and personal attributes with postoperative health-related quality of life. High preoperative pain predicted lower postoperative health-related quality of life. Fear of injury and pain avoidance did not uniquely contribute to this relationship. This finding supported a singular difference in chronic and acute pain. Hernia characteristics were not associated with postoperative health-related quality of life. Age and functional limitations were predictive of postoperative outcomes. Younger age predicted physical recovery while older age predicted mental recovery. High functional limitations were associated with lower health-related quality of life regardless of other factors.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 9993962; ProQuest document ID: 304670128. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Cheryl B. Rowder, PhD, RN, CCRC

Sigma Membership

Beta Beta (Dallas), Tau Epsilon

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Other

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Patient Outcomes, Postoperative Quality of Life, Surgical Recovery

Advisor

Margaret Beard

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

Texas Woman's University

Degree Year

2000

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2019-12-16

Full Text of Presentation

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