The proposed investigation will address clinical and theoretical issues related to the improvement of functioning during recovery from hip surgery.
The specific aims are: 1. To describe how each of two groups of elderly people (people recovering from hip replacement surgery and people who have had surgical repair of hip fractures) cope with the problems they encounter at home during the recovery phase after hip surgery. 2. To determine the effects of specific psychological processes on the coping effort and levels of functioning of elderly individuals recovering at home from hip surgery. 3. To compare the psychological processes stimulated for persons recovering from expected surgical procedures (hip replacements) with individuals recovering from unexpected surgical procedures (surgical repair of hip fractures) with regard to the effects of those processes on coping efforts and levels of functioning. 4. To determine the effects of two components of informational interventions on coping efforts and levels of functioning after hip surgery. Phase 1 of the research will be a longitudinal study of the coping efforts of the elderly recovering at home after hip surgery. Subjects will be studied while in the hospital after surgery and one, two, three, and four months after surgery. Regression analysis will be used in phase 1 to examine the predicted relationships. Interpretations of results will be limited to the description of relationships so as not to imply causal inference. In phase 2, analysis of covariance will be used to examine the unique and combined effects of two components of concrete objective information. The risk of the proposed research to human subjects is quite low. Potential benefits to them and society are substantial.
