Relationship Between Posttraumatic Growth and Meaning in Life Among Patients with Myocardial Infarction

Abstract

Background: A great number of people who have survived after stressful events experience positive psychological changes. These positive changes are recognized as posttraumatic growth. Objectives: The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between posttraumatic growth and meaning in life in patients with myocardial infarction. Methods: This is a descriptive correlational study conducted on 191 patients referring to the largest cardiology center (Bu-Ali Sina) in Qazvin, Iran. The sample was selected through a convenience sampling method based on the inclusion criteria. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, the posttraumatic growth inventory, and the meaning in life questionnaire. Data were analyzed with descriptive analysis. Inferential statistics (Pearson's test) were used to evaluate the relationship between posttraumatic growth and meaning in life. Results: The sample included 49 (25.7%) women and 142 (74.3%) men with the mean age of 59.6 ± 1.2 years. The mean total score of posttraumatic growth was 64.6 ± 11.5 and the mean total score of meaning in life was 49 ± 6.04. Based on the results, there was a significant positive correlation between posttraumatic growth and meaning in life (r = 0.71, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The occurrence of myocardial infarction can lead to some positive psychological changes called posttraumatic growth. Nurses, informal caregivers, and policymakers can use these findings to help patients cope with challenging conditions after myocardial infarction.

Perceived posttraumatic growth in cardiac patients: A systematic scoping review

“…All studies were conducted with cardiac outpatients except one study, which used a sample of medically stable cardiac inpatients (Leung et al., 2012). Among the studies that documented whether the examined cardiac procedure or event was the first of its kind for participants (57.1%, n = 12), most studies exclusively sampled patients who experienced myocardial infarction for the first time (Affleck et al., 1987; Hosseinigolafshani et al., 2019; Garnefski et al., 2009; Javed & Dawood, 2016; Łosiak & Nikiel, 2014). Some studies also sampled patients who experienced a first‐time cardiac procedure or episode ( n = 8), including a first episode of myocardial infarction or acute coronary artery bypass grafting (Bluvstein et al., 2013), first time percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty procedure (Chan et al., 2006), and first cardiac episode (Sanjuán et al., 2016).…”

“…Most studies focused on a single cardiac condition (62%, n = 13), including coronary artery disease or coronary heart disease (Chan et al, 2006;Leung et al, 2010;Masood & Rafique, 2013), heart failure (Carney et al, 2020;Overbaugh & Parshall, 2016), and myocardial infarction (Affleck et al, 1987;Garnefski et al, 2009; F I G U R E 2 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flow diagram Hosseinigolafshani et al, 2019;Javed & Dawood, 2016;Łosiak & Nikiel, 2014;Ogińska-Bulik, 2014;Rahimi et al, 2016;Senol-Durak & Ayvasik, 2010). Of the cardiac conditions studied, myocardial infarction was the most common.…”

“…Two studies found that higher PPTG was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms (Garnefski et al, 2009;Leung et al, 2010), although one study did not find an association (Carney et al, 2020). Other studies reported that higher PPTG was associated with higher ratings of positive well-being (Garnefski et al, 2009), emotional well-being (Karademas, 2010), life satisfaction with regard to leisure (Ogińska-Bulik, 2014), and meaning in life (Hosseinigolafshani et al, 2019).…”