Those who perceive their disease as a physiological or psychological risk factor experience more anxiety at the beginning of the cardiac rehabilitation program

Abstract

Background:In a cardiac patient, anxiety is the result of the individual’s perception of the treatment and is characterized by inability to predict, control, or achieve the desired treatment outcomes.Objectives:This study was carried out to investigate the extent of clinical anxiety in patients who underwent a cardiac rehabilitation program with different attitudes toward the disease risk factors.Patients and Methods:The administrative data of this retrospective study were obtained from the database of the cardiac rehabilitation department of a hospital in Iran. The demographic and clinical information of 603 patients from April 2006 to April 2011 was collected using compiled forms of this database, the Beck anxiety inventory, and the structured clinical interview for axis I disorders. The univariate analysis of variance and the Bonferroni post-hoc analysis were used for data analysis.Results:After controlling for gender and educational level, we observed statistically significant differences in the modified means between the patients who considered the behavioral risk factors and those who considered the physiological risk factors (P = 0.012, MD = 5.03) and between the patients who regarded the behavioral risk factors and those who regarded the psychological risk factors (P = 0.0005, MD = 5.32) as the underlying cause of their cardiac condition, which means that the level of anxiety in the physiological and psychological groups was higher than that in the behavioral group.Conclusions:The anxiety of patients can be controlled through alteration in their attitudes toward the disease risk factors on the grounds that psychological or physiological factors per se do not trigger the occurrence of the disease, whereas behavioral risk factors, as the controlling agent, significantly influence its occurrence.

Correlation of Heart Knowledge and Cardiac Risk Factors with Readiness for Lifestyle Modification in Companions of Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases in the West of Iran

“…This 20-item scale has three subscales, which are concern for risk (items 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9), risk (3,11,12,14,15,16), and unawareness of risk (6,10,17,18,19,20). The scoring is based on the Likert scale (totally disagree = 1 to totally agree = 4).…”

“…Clearly, more than anything else, behaviors are affected by the thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes of individuals (13). The attitudes of patients with CVDs regarding the diseases risk factors play a central role in mental and physical health and healthy behaviors (14)(15)(16). The attitudes directly affect the health behavior of the patients.…”

Coronary artery bypass graft patients' perception about the risk factors of illness: Educational necessities of second prevention

“…[ 11 ] However, the mismatch between actual and perceived risk factors may affect the patient's cognitions[ 12 ] and lead to increased anxiety. [ 13 14 ] Patients’ beliefs about the cause of cardiac disease (perceived risk factors) are part of the global psychological presentation of disease which is affected by patients’ health literacy. [ 7 ] It has been suggested that wrong thoughts about cardiac disease and its risk factors can increase the probability of negative outcomes and of further hospitalization.…”

Risk Factors and Psychosocial Correlates of Emotionally Negative Dreams in Patients Referred to a Cardiac Rehabilitation Centre

“…The tensions during awaking time and occupational and social challenges through decreasing positive mood can lead to distressing sleep and annoying dreams (2,8). For example, patients with cardiovascular problems usually experience high psychological distress because of death risk and invasive treatment procedures (9). Cardiac disease is concerned as a trigger to occur anxiety and depression or related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (10)(11)(12).…”