Patients' knowledge and attitudes about myocardial infarction

Abstract

Delay in seeking emergency care contributes significantly to the mortality associated with myocardial infarction. The aims of this descriptive study were to determine Lebanese patients' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about heart disease following their hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction, the factors associated, and to investigate the education they receive about heart disease. The study targeted 50 participants diagnosed with myocardial infarction who were interviewed about their knowledge, attitudes, and perceived control related to heart disease in their home 1 month after being discharged from hospital using the Acute Coronary Syndrome Response Index and the Control Attitude Scale–Revised. The findings showed inadequate knowledge, with only 26% scoring over 70%. Moreover, only 16% reported having received education about heart disease. The participants reported confidence in recognizing symptoms and getting assistance during a myocardial infarction. However, their beliefs regarding the importance of prompt seeking of emergency care for myocardial infarction and control over their disease were inconsistent. Patient education and counseling about recognizing and responding adequately to symptoms of myocardial infarction must be improved in both acute and primary healthcare settings.

Factors related to perceived control and health‐related quality of life of patients after acute coronary syndrome during admission and after discharge

“…Perceived control of participants in this study gradually increased after discharge, but it was still lower at 6 months compared with US patients during hospitalization (Moser et al, 2009) and almost comparable with Lebanese patients 1 month after their discharge from the hospital (28.5 ± 5.8; N = 50; t = 0.756, p = .451) (Noureddine, Dumit, & Maatouk, 2019). However, higher perceived control of Japanese patients during admission could predict higher general health at 3 months.…”

Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and responses of type 2 diabetes clients toward acute coronary syndrome

“…We also explored the association between the perceived ACS measures and participants' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and the correlations between the measures of the perceived ACS and the measures of anxiety and depression symptoms. Our results support other authors findings about the lack of knowledge among people who are at high risk for heart attack (O'Brien et al, 2012;Noureddine et al, 2020). However, participants of our study showed lower mean score of knowledge than participants of other studies carried out in Ireland (O'Brien et al, 2012) and in Jordan (Alfasfos et al, 2016), that found, respectively, a mean score of 17.8 (S.D.=3.6) and 16 (S.D.=3.6).…”

“…According to other authors, psychosocial dimensions are important to help seeking (Pattenden et al, 2002;Riegel et al, 2007;Whitaker et al, 2012). Further examination of the Attitudes subscale found that participants were more positive about their ability to get help for themselves if they had suffered a heart attack, than for others, which is similar to studies in Lebanon (Noureddine et al, 2020) and Jordan (Alfasfos et al, 2016). In this study, recognizing heart attack symptoms in someone else had the lowest mean score, which is similar with the findings of other authors Alfasfos et al, 2016).…”

“…In a study conducted in Nepal, 60% of the sample was unable to identify a single symptom (Vaidya et al, 2013). Other authors found chest pain as a symptom with the highest score (Whitaker et al, 2012;O'Brien et al, 2012;Awad & Al-Nafisi, 2014;Albarqouni et al, 2016;Alfasfos et al, 2016;Noureddine et al, 2020); however, in our study, the item "heartburn/indigestion/stomach problems" was the symptom most identified. These results may be related to the fact that customers responded to the symptoms they experienced in their life.…”

“…In a study of cardiovascular disease in women, the authors found that good attitude did not result in better preventive practice, thus highlighting the need for employing strategies that foster compliance with preventive practices for adequate control of CVDs (Tedesco et al, 2015). Therefore, it has been recommended that education starts at the hospital and continue to be emphasized at every follow-up (Noureddine et al, 2020).…”