Psychological predictors of quality of life in coronary artery bypass grafting patients

Pages: 977-987
Nandini Sanyal (Department of Psychology, St. Francis College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad, Telangana)
Sameeha Fatima (St. Francis College for Women Begumpet, Hyderabad, Telangana)
Tina Fernandes (Department of Psychology, St. Francis College for Women Begumpet, Hyderabad, Telangana)

According to the American Heart Association (1999), a major cause of death and disability in developed countries is Coronary heart disease (CHD). Majority of the population of patients who survive Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery undergo a recovery period associated with adverse psychological and physical functioning. The present research used a correlational design to study whether resilience (emotional stamina that describes people who display courage & adaptability in wake of life’s misfortunes) and illness perception (to assess cognitive & emotional representations of illness) predict quality of life (to assess individual’s perceptions of their position in life in different contexts) in a sample of CABG patients aged 30-45 years and 55-70 years, 3 months post surgery. A non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 114 CABG patients, out of which 52 were aged between 30-45 years and 62 were aged between 55-70 years. Results of the study indicated significant differences between CABG patients aged between 30-45 years and 55-70 years with respect to resilience, subscales of illness perception viz., consequences, timeline, personal control, treatment control, identity and coherence, and the physical, psychological, social and environment domains of quality of life. In addition, it was found that resilience and the consequences, timeline, personal control, treatment control and emotional representation subscales of illness perception predicted quality of life in CABG patients who were aged between 30-45 years. Furthermore, in patients aged between 55-70 years, the predictors of quality of life were resilience and the consequences, identity and emotional representation subscales of illness perception. Thus, patients must be provided with proper information about their health, the preventive measures to be taken prior to and post surgery.