Stress, coping and coping resources as correlates of adaptation in myocardial infarction patients

A longitudinal study was conducted to examine the utility of a set of variables derived from the stress and coping literature as correlates of patients' level of psychosocial adaptation to a myocardial infarction. Forty patients participated in the study; data were collected soon after the patients' discharge from hospital and three months after the event. It was proposed that a high level of perceived stress associated with the infarct and the use of emotion-focused coping strategies would be associated with poor adaptation to the event, whereas the use of problem-focused strategies, high levels of self-efficacy and access to the appropriate personal (control beliefs, self-esteem and trait anxiety) and social (marital and family quality) coping resources were variables proposed to facilitate adaptation. There was only weak support for the proposed effects of perceived stress, and no support for the proposal that the use of problem-focused strategies would facilitate the adaptation of infarct patients. In contrast, the data provided some support for the hypothesized effects of self-efficacy and emotion-focused coping. There was also evidence to suggest that adaptation to an infarct was facilitated if subjects had internal control beliefs, high self-esteem, low trait anxiety and high-quality family relations. Contrary to expectations, marital quality was largely unrelated to the measures of adaptation.