BackgroundPain is one of the factors that decrease quality of life. Undergoing surgery is inevitably associated with the sensation of pain, which can affect a patient’s level of acceptance of an illness. The aim of the study was to evaluate the level of acceptance of illness in patients undergoing surgical treatment with relation to the pain perceived by them during surgical treatment and to determine other factors that affect adaptation to illness among patients subjected to invasive treatment.Material and methodsThe study was conducted on a group of 100 patients with mean age of 51.27 (SD=18.98) hospitalized in surgery departments in the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Wrocław, Poland, in April 2016. The Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain were used.ResultsThe mean score of VAS was 3.86 (SD =2.02). The mean score of AIS was 24.42 (SD =7.35). The level of acceptance of illness was significantly negatively correlated with the intensity of pain (p<0.001; r=−0.498), the number of coexisting diseases (p=0.002; r=−0.31), age (p<0.001; r=−0.391), and the period of time since the operation (p=0.007; r=−0.266). Patients taking analgesics showed a significantly lower acceptance of illness than those who did not (p=0.009). A patient’s place of living, education, and sex had no significant impact on their acceptance of illness.ConclusionA higher level of pain translates into a lower adaptation to illness despite the use of analgesics, which may indicate that inadequate pain control leads to a decrease in the acceptance of illness. Further research on monitoring postoperative pain, as well as the development of postoperative prevention programs, is required.

Gender and education have an impact on the level of the acceptance of the disease, but they do not influence the quality of life. The acceptance of the disease is connected with the quality of life in patients with a stoma. The higher the level of acceptance of the disease, the better the quality of life. Research indicates the need to deepen patients' education regarding their functioning in society.

No abstract

Introduction. Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases with a high number of sufferers worldwide. Diabetic neuropathy and diabetic angiopathy lead to serious infectious complications which are very di cult to combat and may nally lead to the amputation of a lower limb.The aim of the study was to evaluate the quality of life, the level of acceptance of the illness and the nutritional status of patients after lower limb amputation due to diabetes. Methods. Ninety nine patients (23 men and 76 women) were enrolled into the study. They had all undergone lower limb amputation due to diabetic foot and were treated in the Department of General and Oncological Surgery. The following questionnaires were used: the WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) and the anonymous speci c socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire.Results: The diabetes-related amputees were revealed to have a higher QoL within the social domain (mean score 64.48), an intermediate QoL -within the environmental domain (mean score 63.04) and the mental domain (mean score 59.61), and a lower QoL -within physical (somatic) domain (mean score 54.69). There was no statistical correlation between genders or between all the domains of QoL (p>0.05).The mean MNA score was 22.66, which means that patients were at risk of malnutrition. There were statistical differences between women and men as regards nutritional status (p=0.034). The mean AIS score was 27.65 (27.09 women and 29.48 men), which means that the respondents accept their disease.There was no statistical correlation between gender and the acceptance of the disease (p=0.288). There was not statistical correlation between age and QoL (p>0.05). There were statistical differences between age and nutritional status (p<0.05), and between age and acceptance of the illness (p=0.044).Conclusions: The better the quality of life was in all the domains, the better the level of acceptance of illness was. The less malnourished the patient was, the better their quality of life was in all the domains.