Determination of anxiety, hopelessness and depression levels of patients after lung resection

This study aimed to investigate the levels of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness in patients following lung resection surgery, as well as the interrelationships among these variables. A descriptive and correlational study was conducted with 177 patients who underwent lung resection between November 2019 and May 2022. Data were collected using a Sociodemographic Information Form, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Beck Depression Scale (BDS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Scale (STAI), all administered postoperatively. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, frequencies), independent samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc tests (Bonferroni or Tamhane’s T2), and Pearson correlation analysis were performed using SPSS version 23. Levene’s test was used to assess the homogeneity of variances. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The average age of the participants was found 57.75 ± 6.65 and 61.6% of the patients were male and malignancy rate was 74.5%. According to the data, all patients experienced some level of hopelessness, with 33.3% of the participants experiencing minimal, 23.7% mild, 28.2% moderate and 14.7% severe hopelessness. Depression was also experienced by all participants. Specifically, 1.7% had mild depression, 11.9% had moderate depression, and 86.4% had severe depression. The mean state anxiety score was 50.73 ± 6.02, and the mean trait anxiety score was 50.82 ± 3.91. A positive and statistically significant correlation was found between the Beck Depression Scale and the State Anxiety scores (p < 0.05). The psychological condition of patients following lung resection is too significant to be overlooked. Therefore, it is essential to support patients undergoing thoracic surgery throughout the perioperative period using a holistic approach providing specialist psychological support when necessary. Routine screening for mental health symptoms and early psychosocial interventions such as therapeutic communication, psychiatric consultation, and nursing (consultation-liaison) support should be integrated into perioperative care.