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Background Quality of life, coping strategies, social support and self‐efficacy are important psychosocial variables strongly affecting the experience of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in women. Aims To gain a more in‐depth understanding of how coping strategies, self‐efficacy, quality of life and social support shape women's adjustment to AMI. Design Mixed methods study. Quantitative data were collected through a standardised questionnaire on coping strategies, self‐efficacy, quality of life and social support. Qualitative data stemmed from 57 semistructured interviews conducted with post‐AMI female patients on related topics. Methods Quantitative data were analysed with unpaired two‐sample t‐tests on the means, comparing women who experienced AMI (N = 77) with a control group of women who did not have AMI (N = 173), and pairwise correlations on the AMI sample. Qualitative data were grouped into coding families and analysed through thematic content analysis. Qualitative and quantitative results were then integrated, for different age groups. Results Quantitative results indicated statistically significant differences between women who experienced AMI and the control group: the former showed lower self‐perceived health, perceived social support and social support coping, but greater self‐efficacy, use of acceptance, avoidance and religious coping. Pairwise correlations showed that avoidance coping strategy was negatively correlated with quality of life, while the opposite was true for problem‐oriented coping, perceived social support and self‐efficacy. Qualitative results extended and confirmed quantitative results, except for coping strategies: avoidance coping seemed more present than reported in the standardised measures. Conclusion Mixed methods provide understanding of the importance of social support, self‐efficacy and less avoidant coping strategies to women's adjustment to AMI. Relevance to clinical practice Women need support from health professionals with knowledge of these topics, to facilitate their adaptation to AMI.

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Lo studio č parte di un progetto finanziato nel 2007 dall'ISS finalizzato a cogliere i motivi che possono favorire o ostacolare l'accesso al test per l'HIV. L'obiettivo dello studio presentato era quello di cogliere alcuni aspetti descrittivi delle rappresentazioni sociali dell'HIV e dell'AIDS attivando due piani della conoscenza: quello evocativo-emotivo e quello razionale- cognitivo. Un questionario semi-strutturato č stato somministrato a 307 partecipanti. I risultati mostrano come, da un punto di vista evocativo-emotivo, sia possibile cogliere una sostanziale equivalenza fra l'immagine dell'AIDS e quella dell'HIV. Queste rappresentazioni enfatizzano, da un lato, una concezione di AIDS/HIV basata prevalentemente su contenuti propri delle conoscenze scientifiche, dall'altro concezioni in cui prevale la dimensione valutativo-morale. Č solo a seguito di un'attivazione mediata cognitivamente che i partecipanti riconoscono piů chiaramente la differenza fra HIV e AIDS. In questo caso, essi sono consapevoli che l'HIV non sia la stessa cosa dell'AIDS e che essere sieropositivi non equivalga ad essere malati di AIDS. Vengono discusse le implicazioni di tali risultati per le campagne preventive.