This study is a descriptive research to find out the impact of disability, emotional state, sleep disorder on the quality of life among patients with chronic low back pain.
The data were collected from September to October in 2016 and one on one interviews were performed with chronic back pain patients who visited a neurosurgery and two spinal therapy hospitals located in Chungbuk, by using a structured questionnaire. For a study tool, Korean version of WHOQOL-BREF (Min Sung Gil and et al.,2000), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) for disability (Jeon Chang Hoon and et al., 2005), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI ;Ⅹ-Ⅱ,Ⅹ-Ⅰ) for state anxiety and trait anxiety (Kim Jung Taek, 1978), Beck''s depression inventory (BDI) for depression (Han Hong Moo and et al, 1986), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for sleep disorder (Choi Hee Jung and et al, 2012) were used. The collected data were used to calculate frequency and percentage, average, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient by using SPSS/WIN 24.0 version and Scheffe test was conducted and analyzed by stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Results from the study are described as follows:
1) According to results from finding out disability, emotional state, sleep disorder, and quality of life of patients with chronic back pain the score for disability was 11.50, state anxiety was 42.43, trait anxiety was 42.57, depression was 12.63, and sleep disorder was 12.54. Quality of life was 78.10. environmental domain, one of sub categories, earned a highest score, 4.02, and 3.95 for physical health domain, 3.32 for psychological domain, 2.78 for social relationships domain, and 2.30 for overall quality of life and general health were followed.
2) Quality of life level based on a general specificity was significantly correlated with average monthly household incomes (F=3.89, p=.010), whereas, there was no significant different in quality of life based on specificities of back pain
3) In the relationship of quality of life with disability, emotional state, sleep disorder, quality of life was negatively correlated with trait anxiety (r=-.55, p<.001), state anxiety (r=-.51, p<.001), and depression (r=-.50, p<.001). This means that as higher the trait anxiety and state anxiety and depression are, lower the quality of life level is.
4) It was found that trait anxiety (β=-.388) and depression (β=-.208) influence quality of life and those two factors can be accounted to explain 36% of life quality of patients with chronic back pain.
Given that all the results described above, as higher the trait anxiety and depression level of chronic back pain patients are, lower the quality of life is. Therefore, it needs to understand psychological factors and characteristics of each individual and seek out a nursing intervention program to enhance quality of life for patients with chronic back pain and contribute to decrease of anxiety and depression.