An analysis of patients' psychosocial adjustment and values before and after coronary artery surgery

This study describes the impact of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery on patients' personal values. The relationship between the difference in value ranks and psychosocial adjustment to CABG surgery was also investigated. A one-group pretest-posttest design was employed to identify the differences between pre- and postsurgery value ranks. A consecutive sample of 67 participants ranked two sets of 18 values using the Rokeach Value Survey 1 day before and 6 months after surgery. At 6 months after surgery, psychosocial adjustment was also measured, using the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS). A Pearson product-moment correlation was calculated to test the hypothesis that a direct relationship exists between the difference in value ranks and positive psychosocial adjustment to CABG surgery. Fifty-six participants completed the 6-month follow-up survey. The median value ranks for the three most and least important values of each set were essentially the same for the ranks obtained before and after surgery. The PAIS results obtained 6 months after surgery indicated that all but 4 of the 56 participants had a positive psychosocial adjustment to surgery. There was no significant relationship between PAIS and value difference scores.