Finding Patients’ Perceptions and Attitudes to Neurosurgery: A Qualitative Approach

By : Cherkil Sandhya, Cherian Liza, Gopi Devika, Panikar Dilip, Joshua P Shejoy, Narayanan Prashant, Nair P Anup

Page No: 379-388

Abstract
This study aims to explore the attitudes and perceptions to neurosurgery. Eight semistructured open-ended questions were administered to 47 patients who underwent neurosurgery from 2018 October to 2019 April pre and post operatively. The patient responses in verbatim were recorded and were subjected to open and axial coding. After thematic analysis, the overarching themes were 1) Patients experience worry before the surgery regarding their functionality and mobility. 2) Concerns about the impact the surgery will have on their families should things go wrong. 3) Worry regarding the biopsy result. 4) Worry about infections and prolonged hospital stay.  5) Satisfaction with the communication between them and the doctor. 6) A section of patients is not comfortable despite all the information they have received. It is important to identify the areas of concern and address them so that there is a positive effect on recovery and on the course of treatment. 

Authors :
Dr. Cherkil Sandhya :  Neuropsychologist, Dept. of Neurosciences, Aster Medcity, Kothad, Cochin, Kerala, India.
Cherian Liza : Counselor, Chaithanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad. 
Gopi Devika : Psychologist, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.
Panikar Dilip, Joshua P Shejoy, Narayanan Prashant and Nair P Anup : Neurosurgeons, Aster Medcity, Cochin Department of Neuroscience, Aster Medcity, Cheranelloor, Cochin, Kerala, India. 
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/JPR.2024.19.02.18