Psychological Status of the Leprosy People with Disabilities before Surgery / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

@#Objective To investigate the psychological status of leprosy people with disability and their expectation towards surgical outcomes before surgical operation.Methods 937 cases from nine provinces，which were covered by the China National Commonweal funded surgical camps, were surveyed by a structure questionnaire designed by the Department of Leprosy Control and Rehabilitation, Institute of Dermatology, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS).Results Reasons for the patients to refuse the surgical operation included concerns in medical cost (79.19%), unawareness of the free medical surgery program (64.78%), scaring of surgery (48.88%), unwilling to expose their disabilities (46.43%), unwilling to expose their history of leprosy (45.57%), despairing with disability (43.86%), having no ideas on surgical Results (37.46%), believing that disability is an inevitable outcome of the disease (32.98%), and rejecting the operation becasue of age(30.63%). More than 90% of PALs who are willing to accept surgery expected that surgery can improve their physical ability and they may contribute more to their family or become less independent after surgery; however, they thought there was little opportunity to return to work after surgery.Conclusion It is helpful and necessary to understand the psychological status of the leprosy people with disability before surgery.