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Hospital Anxiety

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

  • 29 Accesses

Synonyms

Fear of hospitals; Hospital stress; Nosocomephobia; Operative anxiety

Definition

Hospital anxiety refers to the anxious response and unusual preoccupation about noxious consequences (real or not) that can result from visiting hospitals or from undergoing medical procedures in a hospital.

Description

Hospital anxiety and related concepts (e.g., “fear of hospitals” and “hospital stress”) have been widely examined in studies investigating barriers to both seeking medical care (Tod et al. 2001) and blood and organ donation (Boulware et al. 2002) and preparation for medical procedures (Johnston 1980). These fears, if irrational, can lead individuals to avoid appropriate medical care when needed or to disregard medical instructions. Individuals with excessive fear of hospitals (i.e., nosocomephobia) often avoid hospitals which results in skipping or missing appointments and avoid visiting friends/relatives who are hospitalized. These fears are often founded on the belief that...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tusculum University, Greeneville, TN, USA

    Hollie Pellosmaa

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  1. Hollie Pellosmaa
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Correspondence to Hollie Pellosmaa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc Gellman

Section Editor information

  1. Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USA

    Deborah J. Wiebe

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Pellosmaa, H. (2020). Hospital Anxiety. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_961-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_961-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

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