As advances in surgical techniques have led to less invasive medical procedures, patients now anticipate speedier and less painful recoveries from surgeries.
  
Even considering patient characteristics (like sex and age), clinical factors (like the type and severity of the injury), the part of the body being operated on, and underlying health conditions — all of which have been shown to affect recovery time — people still vary in how long they take to fully return to their pre-injury condition, and some never do.

Can psychosocial factors — the blend of psychological and social influences that can affect health, injuries, illnesses and diseases — hold the key to predicting how well someone will recover?

About the study

The review looked at 29 studies between 1990 to 2004 to explore the connection between psychosocial factors and how well patients fare after surgery.

The study grouped the psychosocial factors into these 5 categories: 

• Mood
• Attitude
• Social support
• Coping mechanisms 
• Personality. 

And it looked at 5 different surgical outcomes after surgery:

• The amount of pain experienced and how much pain relief was needed.
• The procedure (including the need for anaesthesia, nausea, vomiting and physical complications)
• The length of stay in the hospital
• Functional recovery.
• How both doctors and patients rated physical recovery.

What the study found

Mood factors

These are about our feelings and emotional responses to situations. They found that different measures like anxiety, stress, worry, anger and depression were related to various surgical outcomes. For example, people with high pre-operative anxiety might need more anaesthesia or have a longer hospital stay. On the other hand, being optimistic about the surgery process could lead to better recovery.

Attitudinal factors 

These relate to our beliefs, attitudes and expectations about our recovery. Having positive expectations and self-confidence before surgery seems to help. People who believed they could cope with pain tended to use fewer pain medicines after surgery.

Social support

This is about the people around us and the support they provide. They found that having a good support network can affect long-term health and survival. However, social support didn't show a strong connection to short-term surgical outcomes, except in some heart-related cases.

Coping factors

Coping is how we handle challenges. They looked at active, passive, avoidant and problem-solving coping styles. Some studies suggest that how we cope with symptoms and challenges can influence our recovery.

Personality factors 

The researchers examined traits like neuroticism, extraversion, self-esteem and others. Generally, personality traits didn't have a strong impact on physical recovery after surgery.

The results were similar across several surgical procedures. 

The takeaway messages

Our minds and emotions shape our recovery journey after surgery for a wide array of procedures. 

Things like how hopeful we are, the mood we're in, how we handle stress and challenges can influence how much anaesthesia we need, how long we need to stay in hospital and how fast we can get back to doing our regular activities. 

Medical practitioners would therefore do well to consider integrating assessments like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory or psychiatric evaluations, into their preoperative planning to make sure recovery happens as smoothly as possible. 

This proactive approach could help anticipate the potential influence of psychosocial factors on a patient's surgical journey and contribute to more precise care strategies.

Original research

Rosenberger, P. H., Jokl, P., & Ickovics, J. (2006). Psychosocial factors and surgical outcomes: an evidence-based literature review. JAAOS-Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 14(7), 397-