Hospital stressors experienced by elderly medical inpatients: developing a Hospital Stress Index

TLDR: Hospital-reported stressors may contribute to the emotional distress that elderly inpatients experience and an index to identify such stressors is developed.

Abstract: Objective:To develop a long and short version of an index to measure experiences during hospitalization perceived by elderly patients as stressful.Samples and Methods:Consecutive patients aged sixty or over admitted to a university teaching hospital were assessed for hospital-related stressors during two separate studies. In the first study, seventy-six patients were asked an open-ended question exploring what they found most stressful about being in the hospital. Responses were grouped into major categories, and questions were developed to address concerns in each category; the resulting forty items were called the Hospital Stress Index (HSI). The HSI was then administered to a separate group of ninety-two patients; data were also collected on functional disability (impaired ADLs), dysfunctional attitudes (DAS), and depressive symptoms (CES-D).Results:Spontaneously reported hospital stressors were grouped into seven categories: 1) adverse effects of diagnostic or therapeutic procedures/treatments, 2) for...