QUALITY OF LIFE IN POST-MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION WOMEN (MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION).
Contributors: Catholic University of America.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 182
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Mental Health.
Description: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of environmental inputs (age, employment status, severity of illness, length of illness, marital status, socioeconomic status) and psychological mediators (social support, control over health, self-esteem) to the adaptive outcome of quality of life (QOL) in post-myocardial infarction (MI) women.

An ex post facto, one-group, cross-sectional, correlational design was used. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 96 subjects from cardiologists' offices. Selection criteria were (a) female, (b) diagnosis of MI, and (c) had not undergone cardiac surgery. The subjects completed 6 instruments: (a) Quality of Life Index, (b) Social Support Questionnaire (Satisfaction), (c) Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scales (Powerful Others), (d) Self-Esteem Inventory, (e) Additional Information Sheet, and (f) Patient Data Sheet. The Hollingshead Index measured socioeconomic status and Ejection Fraction measured severity of illness.

Regression-based path analysis was used. The findings were (a) employment status (p =.0002), social support (p =.0001), and self-esteem (p =.04) were significant predictors of QOL; (b) the environmental variables and mediating variables accounted for 47.8% of the variance in QOL ($R\sp2$ =.478, F = 8.76, p $<$.0001); (c) social support (p =.0001) and control over health (p =.01) were significant predictors of self-esteem; (d) the environmental variables, social support, and control over health accounted for 23.5% of the total variance in self-esteem ($R\sp2$ =.235, F = 3.34, p =.002); (e) there were 11 overall qualitative themes related to QOL, with the most frequent themes being health/illness, activity, and relationships/support.

The conclusions were (a) post-MI women who had returned to work or had already retired and who had higher levels of social support and self-esteem had higher levels of QOL; (b) the environmental variables and mediating variables explained almost half of the variance in the QOL of post-MI women; (c) post-MI women with higher levels of social support and lower levels of external control over health had higher levels of self-esteem; (d) age, employment status, length of illness, severity of illness, marital status, socioeconomic status, social support, and control over health explained almost one-fourth of the variance in the self-esteem of post-MI women.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-05, Section: B, page: 2250.

Thesis (D.N.SC.)--THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, 1992.

School code: 0043.