[Expected and received assistance from informal social support for aged people in heart surgery]

This study describes and compares the importance and availability of expected and received types of assistance, during the convalescence period at home, from the informal social support network, as perceived by older persons undergoing heart surgery. The research design is descriptive and comparative. Barrera's conceptual framework has been integrated to Roy's model of adaptation. The 45 participants, 31 men and 14 women with a mean age of 74 years (SD = 3.37 years), underwent myocardium revascularisation, valve replacement, or a combination of both surgeries. The day before the heart surgery and one month following the hospital discharge, the participants completed a French modified and adapted version of the "Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors" (Lepage, 1984) to identify perceived importance and availability of expected and received types of assistance (material, physical, emotional, guidance, and feedback) while at home on convalescence. Repeated-measure MANOVAs result in significant interactions between importance and availability of assistance, and between the day before heart surgery and one month following hospital discharge in three categories of assistance (emotional, p = 0.002; guidance, p = 0.003; feedback, p = 0.001). ANOVAs indicate that older persons perceive, one month after hospital discharge, the received assistance as important as anticipated the day before their surgery, but its availability is less. It is therefore important for nurses to reevaluate and adapt their pre-operative teaching program for older persons, especially as pertaining to the significant 15 types of assistance, and according to available resources from the informal social support network, and to mobilize the formal support network before hospital discharge.