Comparison of coping responses to symptoms between first-time sufferers and those with a previous history of acute myocardial infarction

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2007

Publication Title

Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing

Volume

22

Issue

2

First Page

145

Keywords

Acute myocardial infarction, Adaptation, Psychological, adaptive behavior, article, Canada, Care-seeking delay, comparative study, Coping, Drugs, Non-Prescription, emotion, Emotions, female, heart infarction, human, human relation, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, male, middle aged, myocardial infarction, non prescription drug, psychological aspect, Recurrence, recurrent disease, Socioeconomic Factors, socioeconomics, United States

Last Page

151

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Little is known about how experience with a previous acute myocardial infarction (AMI) impacts individuals' reactions to symptoms of a recurrent episode. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare the use of coping strategies during an acute cardiac event in patients experiencing a first AMI with those experiencing a recurrent AMI. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Secondary data analyses were performed to examine differences in the use of coping strategies between individuals with and without a history of AMI. Mann-Whitney U test was performed to compare those with (n = 26) and without (n = 109) a previous AMI with respect to 15 coping strategies, each of which was measured on a 5-point Likert scale. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Patients with a history of AMI were more likely to use prescribed medications to deal with their symptoms than were patients who did not have a previous AMI (M = 1.5 and 0.20; median = 2.0 and 0.0, respectively; P < .001). However, patients who had no previous AMI were more likely to respond by taking nonprescription medications (M = 0.90 and 0.60; median = 1.0 and 0.0, respectively; P = .04). The results suggest that patients with and without a history of AMI tend to respond to their symptoms with similar coping strategies. When differences occurred, patients with and without a history of AMI differed only with respect to the type of self-medication choices they made. Implications pertaining to these findings are discussed. © 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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