The relationship between Eriksonian psychosocial attributes, perceived uncertainty, coping, and outcomes following vascular surgery.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the relationships between Eriksonian psychosocial developmental resolution, perceived uncertainty, coping, and outcomes following vascular surgery. Eighty one individuals were studied following their operation for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair or lower extremity revascularization. Path analysis revealed that individuals with fewer psychosocial attributes, indicating less favorable psychosocial developmental resolution, perceived more ambiguity in their illness. Ambiguity was associated with greater use of emotion focused coping strategies, increased number of complications, and longer hospitalization. The pattern of relationships was the same for both operative groups, however, the magnitude of effects was greater for the AAA repair group. The findings suggest that additional factors associated with the chronicity of disease for individuals undergoing lower extremity revascularization affect the use of coping strategies and outcomes of surgery. Complexity, a sub component of perceived uncertainty, did not contribute to the explained variance of the use of coping strategies, number of complications, or length of hospitalization. The findings suggest that ambiguity is the salient component of perceived uncertainty that is related to clinical outcomes following surgery. Subjects used predominately internally oriented strategies to respond to the perception of ambiguity. Therefore, nurses may need to be more direct in eliciting information about the perception of ambiguity experienced by clients if nurses are to develop effective therapeutic interventions.