The Crisis of Hysterectomy

Raphael, Beverley

doi:10.3109/00048677209159689

Cited by 15 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 18 publications

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“…For the purpose of the discussion, it is useful to consider hysterectomy as a crisis in a women's life (Raphael 1972;Kaltreider 1979). Such a crisis reverberates on many aspects (self-concept, sexual and marital adjustment, activities), and, as in any important crisis, the quality of support around the woman and the reaction of her environment is of crucial importance to moderate the stress of this intervention (Cobb 1976;Jackson 1985), which would rank 18th on a scale from one to 61 on the Paykel Scale of Life Events (Paykel 1974).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural factors and reaction to hysterectomy

Lalinec-Michaud

Engelsmann

1989

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol

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The role of cultural background in the etiology of depressive symptoms associated with hysterectomy has been rarely explored. However, the increasing interest in the transcultural aspects of psychiatry in the last decade gives a particular relevance to this subject. In the current study, 152 women underwent hysterectomy in a downtown hospital of a large city. The population under study consisted of women of various ethnic backgrounds, French Canadian (35%), English Canadian (29%), European (22%) and other (14%). The women completed the Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS) before the operation and six times after during a one year period. They also answered two questionnaires, the first before the operation and the last one a year after. These questionnaires explored the presence of fears, misconceptions, the attitudes toward the operation, the satisfaction regarding medical care and the general pre- and post-operative adjustment. English Canadian women reported the lowest scores on the SDS; they had few misconceptions and fears. They had the best post-operative adjustment of the three groups. French Canadian women showed intermediate scores on the SDS and expressed more misconceptions and feelings of mutilations pre-operatively. Women of European origin showed the highest scores on the SDS at all observations, expressed more regrets about the operation and had a more difficult post-operative adjustment than the other two groups. This study suggests that cultural factors may contribute to the reaction to hysterectomy in women of different ethnic backgrounds. Education, the type of society: patriarchal versus matriarchal, the emphasis on the women's reproductive ability in a particular culture, are among other factors that seem to play an important role.

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