The Structure of Stress Experiences in Patients in the Lumbar Spine Pain Syndrome during the COVID-19 Epidemic in Poland

Abstract

Introduction. The rapid transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has prompted government officials from many countries around the world to introduce severe epidemic restrictions to reduce the risk of developing coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, apart from the necessity to protect somatic health, it turned out in a relatively short time that the pandemic also posed a serious threat to the mental functioning of many people.
Aim. The aim of the study is assessing the structure of stressful experiences of women and men in the pain syndrome of the lumbar spine during the COVID-19 epidemic in Poland.
Material and Methods. The study sample consists of 102 patients hospitalized in the Department of Neurosurgery and Pediatric Neurosurgery of the Independent Public Clinical Hospital No. 4 in Lublin. The first group is women, the second is men. The research used the KPS Questionnaire and a proprietary questionnaire. Statistical analyses were carried out using the IBM SPSS 25 program using the two-factor analysis of variance in the mixed schema included in the multivariate OML model.
Results. In the group of women, 49.0% of patients feel high stress, 31.4% — moderate, and 19.6% — low. In the male population, 37.3% of the respondents exhibited high stress, 51.0% — average and 11.7% — low. Women exhibit lower emotional tension but higher external stress than men. In addition, the patients have the highest emotional tension and external stress, and the lowest — intrapsychic stress. In men, emotional tension dominates, next is external stress, and intrapsychic stress is significantly lower than them.
Conclusions. The obtained data suggest that when designing interventions supporting the mental functioning of this group of patients, consideration should be given to taking into account individual differences identified in the studies. (JNNN 2021;10(3):96–104)