PREDICTION OF WORK STATUS FOLLOWING CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT SURGERY: A TEST OF THE HEALTH BELIEF MODEL.
Contributors: Indiana University School of Nursing.
Published: 1986
Number of pages: 146
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: Return to work following coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABGS) is most often reported in the literature to be the accepted criterion for measuring successful cardiac rehabilitation. The literature revealed that many people who are physically capable of working fail to resume post-operative employment. This finding provided the impetus for testing whether the Health Belief Model (HBM) could predict the postoperative work status of individuals who had undergone CABGS. The HBM variables tested were susceptibility, seriousness, benefits, and barriers. To enhance the predictive potential of the HBM, the independent variables, state anxiety (A-State), age, educational level, and length of preoperative unemployment were added to the study design.

Data were solicited via questionnaire from a convenience sample of men and women who had experienced CABGS from 7 to 16 months prior to their participation in the study. Data from 55 questionnaires were utilized for scale analyses, whereas hypothesis testing was limited to a sample of 42 individuals who were not preoperatively retired. Health beliefs and A-State were measured by modified scales originating from the work of Champion (1983, 1984) and Spielberger et al. (1983), respectively.

Internal consistency reliability for the A-State and HBM scales was estimated by the Cronbach's alpha statistic. Construct validity of the HBM scales was supported by factor analysis. The prediction of work behavior using aforementioned independent variables was tested via multiple regression analyses. A significant multiple R of.60 was obtained with 36% of the variance accounted for when the variables, age, educational level, and length of preoperative unemployment were added to the analysis. The greatest variance was attributed to age (21%), followed by length of preoperative unemployment (10%), and susceptibility (5%). Conclusions were that reliability coefficients are relatively stable for the HBM scales when modified for testing various health-related behaviors, postoperative work status is probably an inaccurate measure of successful rehabilitation from the patient's perspective, and age and length of preoperative unemployment were the best predictors of post-bypass work status. Recommendations for further study include continued testing of the HBM and the investigation of criterion variables which more accurately measure successful rehabilitation.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-08, Section: B, page: 2262.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--INDIANA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NURSING, 1986.

School code: 0815.