Disease acceptance and social support in patients with peripheral vascular diseases treated in the surgical ward.
Józefa Czarnecka, Ewa Kobos, Zofia Sienkiewicz
PMID 34355524WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with peripheral vascular disease in a surgical ward reported lower disease acceptance and less social support than patients having other surgeries.
Nurses can ask about family help, equipment, and understanding of the condition during assessment.
Key findings
01Patients with peripheral vascular disease had lower disease acceptance and lower social support than patients with other surgical diseases.
02Patients with other surgical diseases showed higher acceptance than vascular patients on five of eight disease-acceptance statements.
03Vascular patients reported lower support in family structure, network size, physical equipment, non-professional assistance, and health information.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in one ward and used convenience sampling, so the patients may not represent other hospitals or centres. It was cross-sectional, with data collected at one time point, so it cannot show whether low support caused lower acceptance or whether these factors change over time. The vascular group was older, more often retired, more often from towns or cities, and had longer disease duration, so differences in acceptance and support may be linked to those background differences. The Social Support Scale was described as mainly used for nursing purposes, and the paper notes limited comparability with other studies because different tools were used.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that low social support causes lower disease acceptance or that giving more support will improve outcomes. This was a one-time survey of available patients in one ward, and the vascular group differed in age, retirement, residence, and disease duration.