Assessment of preoperative anxiety and negative automatic thoughts in patients waiting for corneal transplantation

Introduction and aim. In patients waiting for organ transplantation, increased waiting time can increase anxiety by creating negative automatic thoughts. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between corneal transplant recipients’ negative automatic thoughts and anxiety before organ transplantation. Material and methods. The population of this correlational descriptive study consisted of 108 patients waiting for cornea transplantation in the Eye Bank unit of a hospital in the south east region of Türkiye. The data were obtained from the patients presented to the ophthalmology clinic for transplantation between September and December 2022. A patient information form, the Negative Automatic Thoughts Scale, and the Trait Anxiety Scale were used to collect the data. Percentage distribution, arithmetic mean, logistic regression and correlation analysis were used in the data analysis. Results. It was determined that the mean score of the negative automatic thoughts of the transplant patients participating in the study was 100.69±47.83, and the trait anxiety mean score was 53.06±6.07. There was a positive relationship between negative automatic thoughts and trait anxiety at a moderate level, which was statistically significant (p<0.05, r=0.53). Conclusion. It was determined in the study that the patients’ negative automatic thoughts and trait anxiety were high, and their anxiety increased as the negative automatic thoughts increased.