Well-being and Stress Control After Colorectal Surgery

The criteria usually considered to evaluate the quality of life are the presence or absence of a stomy, alteration of the transit or the sexual dysfunctions. Quality of life has been improved by introducing an Enhanced Postoperative Rehabilitation Program After Surgery (ERAS). It is a multidisciplinary medical and paramedical care aimed at minimizing the sources of stress allowing a significant reduction in postoperative complications and length of stay. However, the emotional feelings of patients, their fatigue, the quality of their relationships with others and their experience of the disease are not usually considered. Nevertheless, these criteria influence the quality of life and constitute the fundamental bases of the psychological well-being, essential in the recovery processes. We propose to enrich the ERAS program by introducing an individualized support of well-being and stress management aimed at increasing the quality of life of patients. The purpose is to make the patient more autonomous by allowing him/her, to implement stress management exercises. The main goal of the project is to improve the psychological well-being of patients operated on for colorectal cancer by offering stress management sessions in order to promote postoperative rehabilitation. The secondary objectives are to demonstrate the impact of stress management sessions on the length of stay and to study the link between the efficiency of these sessions and the quality of life of patients before the surgery.