The influence of early speech rehabilitation with voice prostheses on the psychological state of laryngectomized patients

This survey assessed how early speech rehabilitation influences the emotional state and psychological adjustment of 43 male laryngectomy patients, at three different chronological stages. The first assessment occurred 2–3 days before the operation. The patients filled out a stress questionnaire (SVF) which assessed coping strategies. Exactly 2 weeks after the operation the patients were given a list of adjectives (EWL) which measured their actual emotional state. One day before leaving the hospital the patients were given the Post-laryngectomy Telephone Test (PLTT) which ascertained the quality of speech intelligibility. In addition, patients filled out a questionnaire on postoperative stress and anticipated stigmatisation with regard to their changed voice. Results demonstrated that patients who had early speech rehabilitation felt significantly more active and, in general, felt considerably better than patients who had not received speech rehabilitation training. Patients assessed voice loss as extremely distressing. The postoperative stress and the anticipated stigmatisation on the basis of the changed voice was significantly higher in those patients with good speech intelligibility than in patients with poor speech articulation at hospital discharge. The coping strategies “Giving up and resignation” and “Need for social support” correlated positively with postoperative stress and anticipated stigmatisation. Results show that early speech rehabilitation with voice prostheses had a positive effect on the emotional state of laryngectomy patients. However, the early speech rehabilitation leads to distress in the initial phase in laryngectomy patients. Moreover, patients who habitually tend towards resignation, or need lots of social support should receive psychological support during the early phase of speech rehabilitation training. Received: 27 April 2001 / Accepted: 5 July 2001