Psychological Distress Among Pre-Surgical Cataract Patients At The Cape Coast Teaching Hospital

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to measure overall psychological distress and specifically, levels of depression, anxiety and stress among pre-surgical cataract patients presenting at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. One hundred and fiftyeight patients who were preparing to have cataract surgery were quantitatively assessed using the shortened form of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Convenience sampling was used to recruit these participants. The study found that the overall incidence of psychological distress among presurgical cataract patients in the study was 73.4% and that patients experienced anxiety the most. In light of the findings, it was concluded that pre-surgical cataract patients experience high psychological distress, and it was recommended that clinical health psychologists should work closely with eye care professionals in the preparation of cataract patients for surgery. This collaboration will go a long way to mitigate the high psychological distress that patients experience before cataract surgery.