Emotions in the course of obstructive sleep apnoea vs. nurses’ support

Introduction:
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), as a chronic disease, is classified as a common sleep disorder. Its causes are attributed to various factors: modifiable ones related to lifestyle and non-modifiable ones such as age and gender. Its symptoms can be divided into those that occur at night and those that persist during the day as a result of interrupted, ineffective nighttime sleep. Treatment of OSA may involve various methods, including surgical options. OSA impacts the daily functioning of individuals, and it can cause patients to experience emotions of varying type and intensity. Given their nature, the support of nurses is valuable and should be preceded by an assessment of each patient’s mental state during hospitalisation. The aim of this study was to understand the emotions and feelings of patients in the course of OSA, the degree of their control, and their opinions on the support of nursing team during hospitalisation.

Material and methods:
The study included 100 patients hospitalised in Lesser Poland. The study was conducted using the diagnostic survey method as well as the author’s survey questionnaire and the CECS scale. Data analysis was conducted using the Statistica statistical package. The significance level was p < 0.05.

Results:
Due to OSA, the subjects mainly felt shame, a sense of loss of independence and threat to their lives, and increased nervousness. They scored 61.79 on the CECS scale, which can be interpreted as an average degree of suppression of negative emotions. Women scored significantly higher than men on anxiety control (p < 0.05). Other sociodemographic variables had no significant relationship with the extent of emotion control. The nurses’ overall evaluation of support as very high and high had no relationship with emotion control.

Conclusions:
Support from the nursing team is important when patients experience negative emotions. Learning about patients’ emotions should be an ongoing part of nurses’ evaluation of the condition.