THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PAIN-ANGER LEVELS AND SLEEP QUALITY OF PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED IN THE ORTHOPEDICS AND TRAUMATOLOGY CLINIC BECAUSE OF MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURY

Aim: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between pain-anger levels and sleep quality of patientshospitalized in the orthopedics and traumatology clinic because of musculoskeletal injury.Methods: This study is descriptive and cross-sectional. The study was conducted with 153 patients who underwent plastercast and traction because of musculoskeletal injuries in an orthopedic clinic at a university hospital. The data was collectedbetween January 1st, 2011 and June 30th, 2011 by using the visual analog scale (VAS) and the Spielberger state-trait angerexpression inventory (STAXI) questionnaires. The data was analyzed using descriptive tests and the relationship betweenpain-anger-sleep quality was determined through the Pearson correlation test.Results:. The mean age of 153 patients who participated in this study was 52.78: 56.3% were male, 74.5% were married,55.6% had primary school education level, 56.2% were dependent, 51.0% had plaster cast applied and 53.6% had pain. Thepatients’ mean score for the severity of their pain was found as 4.8 cm (SD=2.3) according to VAS. The average of their traitanger score was moderate (20.49) according to the STAXI. The highest score of the patients on the STAXI scale was theanger-control (22.12±4.91), and the lowest score was the anger-in subscale. (15.39±3.57). It was determined that 68.3% ofthe patients had a negative effect on sleep quality due to pain and their sleep quality mean score was 5.4 cm (SD=2.6)according to VAS. There was no significant relationship between pain-anger-sleep quality (p>0.05). It was found that therewas a significant relationship between patients' trait- anger with anger-in, anger-out, and anger control (r=0.294, 0.589,0.364 respectively) (p=0.001).Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the sleep quality of the patients was negatively affected by pain ratherthan anger. According to this result, it may be recommended to manage pain effectively to improve the quality of sleep inhospitals. It is also recommended to perform well-designed prospective randomized controlled trials to obtain strong evidence.