Gynecological surgical interventions (conservative and non-conservative): Clinical psychological variables and symptomatology pertaining to perioperative period

Abstract

Objective: After considering great inter-individual variability of subjective experience and clinical
course in reference to conservative and non-conservative gynecological surgical interventions, an
attempt was made to evaluate potential role of several clinical and psychological variables with respect
to perioperative symptomatology course and illness behaviour.

Materials and methods: The sample consists of 58 women (mean age 41.4 ± 8.7) undergoing
gynecological surgical interventions (conservative and non-conservative ones) for benign pathologies.
The anamnestic and clinical data (psychological anamnesis, clinical history, indications, methods
and typology of the intervention) were collected using a specifically designed summary form. For
the evaluation of pre-and post-operative symptomatology course and illness behaviour, the following
psychological tests were respectively used: The Symptom Questionnaire (SQ), with 3 planned
administrations (respectively 15 days before the intervention, a day before the intervention and at
discharge) and the Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), completed before discharge. Non-parametric
tests (Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis) were used to compare performances on independent samples.

Results: Results show that perioperative course and illness behaviour in the cases of gynecological
surgical interventions for benign pathologies depend on clinical variables, that is, typology and methods
of the intervention, clinical history, psychopathological anamnesis.

Conclusion: Findings suggest the importance of clinical-anamnestic inquiry oriented towards the
evaluation of variables that emerged as risk factors, with the goal of planning personalized support
interventions for preventing and/or reducing distress and impact on psychophysical wellbeing arising
after gynaecological surgical interventions.