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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Heart Attacks Can Give Couples a New Lease on Life,
says Study
Supports argument for increased involvement in rehab
programs
 Feb.
28, 2007 - A third of people who suffer heart attacks discover new
meaning to their lives and reconnect with their partner, but others see
it as a threat to their well-ordered existence, according to research
published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Researchers from Switzerland and the USA teamed up
to explore the in-depth experiences of 24 couples to see whether the
experience had changed their lives and their relationships.
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"All the couples experienced a brush with death at
the onset of the disease which called for changes in their lifestyle"
says lead researcher Dr Romy Mahrer-Imhof, from the Institute of Nursing
at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
"Three distinct patterns of dealing with the
patient's heart attack emerged. People either made positive changes to
their lives, felt negative about the experience or tried to turn their
lives around but failed."
Nine couples reported that the heart attack was an
important and necessary event which had brought them closer together and
transformed their lives.
"He used to be a very normal person but then he
became reserved" said one partner. "When he suffered the heart attack he
emerged transformed. He is much more open, much more relaxed. Now we can
speak together again. We have succeeded in turning our lives around."
This particular couple had also made practical
changes to their lives.
"For example, I don't do the grocery shopping
anymore" she adds. "He goes now with the bike cycling is good for him
and it brings him out from behind the computer."
Ten couples said that they felt fearful and
threatened by the fact that they had no control over an unpredictable
future.
"The physician who tested me said my heart is not
good" said one patient." I could not understand it. Why did this happen
to me? I was always careful to eat healthy food and I never smoked."
"We are always a bit worried" added his wife. "We
planned a trip, but now we have to let that go. I know I don't need to
be anxious, but it is hard to plan for the future when he is not
healthy."
The remaining five couples looked at various
possibilities for positive change as the result of the heart attack. But
they did not achieve them and felt that they had missed their chance to
make things better.
One partner in her mid 60s talked about how she
wanted her husband to take more exercise, work less and spend more time
with her after his heart attack.
"Work and other things are much more important than
that we spend time together" she said. "I have to rely on myself. I do
not want to wait and be frustrated all the time. I could start nagging
how awful. So we live as we did before."
The study focused on patients who had been
hospitalized in north-west Switzerland in the last year after an acute
cardiac event, together with their partners. The patients had all
attended a cardiac rehabilitation program.
All the study couples had been in a stable
relationship for at least a year and none had a coexisting terminal
illness or mental disability or were receiving counseling at the time of
the study.
Eighty-three per cent of the patients were married
men, with an average age of 61, and their wives were slightly younger,
with an average age of 58. Relationships ranged from four to 60 years,
with a median of 35.
Ninety-two per cent had children and 50 per cent
also had grandchildren.
The majority (92 per cent) had coronary heart
disease and eight per cent had valve failure. 54 per cent received
catheterization, 38 per cent had surgery and eight per cent received
other treatments.
The interviewers spoke to each couple together for
about an hour and a half and followed this up with individual one-hour
interviews with each of the 24 patients and their partners.
"Many patients, particularly women, don't attend
rehabilitation programs and this is something that needs to be addressed
during their stay in hospital" says Dr Mahrer-Imhof.
"Our findings also support arguments for increasing
the involvement of couples in rehabilitation programs so that support
can be tailored to their own individual relationship.
"For example, counseling could provide these
couples with more choices about how to negotiate more intimacy in a
relationship in which each partner's needs and wants are respected.
"Group sessions are also useful as they show people
how other couples deal with similar situations, helping them to conquer
fear and find new ways of living, despite the illness."
Editor's Notes:
Reference: Impact of cardiac disease on couples'
relationships. Mahrer-Imhof et al. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 57.5,
513-521.(2007)
Source: Journal of Advanced Nursing is read by
experienced nurses, midwives, health visitors and advanced nursing
students in over 80 countries. It informs, educates, explores, debates
and challenges the foundations of nursing health care knowledge and
practice worldwide. Edited by Professor Alison Tierney, it is published
24 times a year by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, part of the international
Blackwell Publishing group.
www.journalofadvancednursing.com
Blackwell Publishing is the world's leading
society publisher, partnering with 665 medical, academic and
professional societies. Blackwell publishes over 800 journals and has
over 6,000 books in print. For more information on Blackwell Publishing,
please visit
www.blackwellpublishing.com or
www.blackwell-synergy.com.
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