The effect of cyberchondria status and severity on pre-operative patient readiness

INTRODUCTION: The study was aimed to determine the effect of the cyberchondria status and severity of the patients on their readiness for surgery.
METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 375 patients who received care in the surgical wards of a university hospital between February 10 and April 30, 2023, were included. Data were collected using the Cyberchondria Scale (CS), Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS), and the Pre-operative Assessment of Readiness Tool (PART). Data were evaluated by Mann–Whitney U test, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Mann–Kruskal Wallis, and linear regression analysis.
RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 38.0±9.7 years, and 54.1% were female. 59.2% of the patients stated that they spent more than 4 h on the Internet. The mean scores of the patients were 82.7±7.1 for the PART, 72.0±17.5 for the CS, and 33.0±8.6 for the CSS. Cyberchondria status was positively affected (p=0.026), and the severity of cyberchondria negatively affected pre-operative patient readiness. Doctor–patient interaction and dysfunctional Internet use positively affect readiness for surgery. Excessiveness had a negative effect, and distress had a positive effect (p<0.05).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In patients who will undergo surgery, it was determined that readiness for surgery was high and cyberchondria status had a positive effect, while cyberchondria severity had a negative effect.