Relationships Among Body Perception, Life Satisfaction, and Attitude Toward Seeking Psychological Help in Patients With a Tracheostomy After Discharge: A Descriptive and Cross-sectional Study

A patient with a tracheostomy may have impaired body perception, reduced life satisfaction, and a need for psychological help after discharge. PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the relationships among body perception, life satisfaction, and attitude toward seeking psychological help in patients with a tracheostomy after discharge. METHODS The data were collected between November 2019 and January 2020. The sample consisted of 60 patients with a tracheostomy who agreed to participate in the study voluntarily, were discharged with a tracheostomy, and continued home care for at least 1 month (maximum 3 months) after discharge. Thirty-three (33) of these patients (55%) were older than 65 years of age, and 45 patients (75%) were female. The Sociodemographic Characteristics Form, the Body Cathexis Scale, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, and the Attitude Scale toward Seeking Psychological Help were used in data collection. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews between patients and researchers using paper-and-pencil questionnaires and were analyzed. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyze the data; P < .05 was accepted as the level of significance. RESULTS The mean Body Cathexis Scale score of all 60 patients was 127.03 ± 29.02 (minimum 40; maximum 200), their mean score on the the Satisfaction With Life scale was 16.20 ± 6.55 (minimum 5; maximum 35), and the mean score on the Attitude Scale toward Seeking Psychological Help was 55.21 ± 12.19 (minimum 18; maximum 90). Statistically significant correlations were found between body perceptions and life satisfaction (r = 0.419, P <.001), body perceptions and attitude toward seeking psychological help (r = 0.530, P < .001), and life satisfaction and attitude toward seeking psychological help (r = 0.448, P < .001). CONCLUSION In this study, patients with a tracheostomy who had a good body perception and higher life satisfaction had a more positive attitude toward seeking psychological help. Additional studies are needed to confirm these results and explore the effects of correlations to improve the well-being of persons with a tracheostomy.