THE FAMILY EXPERIENCE FOLLOWING ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION (COPING, STRESS).
Contributors: University of Virginia.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 149
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Purpose. Interest in family nursing has grown among nurse researchers (Fawcett, 1975, Gillis, 1991). However, nursing theory about family phenomena is still in the developmental stage. Family phenomena related to coping with the crisis of the husband/father's acute myocardial infarction (AMI) needs to be described. Therefore, a theoretical causal model was developed that included factors related to the incidence of childhood somatic complaints and behavior changes after father's AMI. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine whether there was a change in parental emotional distress and uncertainty between Time I (in hospital) and Time II (at home), and (2) to test the model for congruency with a sample of families of AMI patients.

Sample. A sample of convenience of seventeen (n-17) families of male AMI patients between the ages of 30 to 59 completed the study. The majority of the families were Caucasian, middle-class, with an average of two children between the ages of 4 and 18 years.

Methods. A longitudinal descriptive design, incorporating a predictive recursive causal model was used. The study was conducted at a mid-Atlantic tertiary care medical center. Data related to parental emotional distress, parental uncertainty, family coping, were collected at Time I (during the patient's hospitalization). At Time II, (during convalescence at home) the same data were collected, with the addition of data related to incidence of somatic complaints and behavior changes in the children.

Findings. Paired t-tests showed no significant differences for parental uncertainty and emotional distress between Time I and Time II. From mothers' reports, 76% of the children and adolescents experienced somatic complaints and/or behavior changes following the father's AMI. The model failed to test for congruency with this sample. However, mother's emotional distress explained 30 percent of the variance in the incidence of children's reported somatic and behavioral changes at Time I, and 29 percent at Time II.

Implications. This study identified the children's reactions and how they fit in the picture of family coping after father's AMI. Mother's emotional distress affects the children. Therefore, the development of nursing strategies to enhance maternal coping and decrease maternal emotional distress are important to minimize children's stress after a heart attack in the father. To enhance cognitive appraisal and coping, and to maximize the potential of the family for healthy adaptation, patients and families with children at home need to know what to expect during the recovery process after AMI.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: B, page: 0744.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, 1992.

School code: 0246.