Coping with acute myocardial infarction

This study examines how patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) cope. The nonrandom sample consisted of 30 acutely ill patients with AMI. Data were collected with an open-ended interview derived from cognitive coping theory and the Jalowiec Coping Scale. Interview content was analyzed with qualitative methods; data collected by use of the JCS were quantitatively examined. From the patients' appraisals emerged a unique description of coping with AMI that differed from the denial-focused description proposed by earlier investigators. In addition, patients used many and varied coping strategies during the first 3 days of illness. Among those contributing most to the total coping efforts of the group were the optimistic-, confrontive-, self-reliant-, and supportant-type strategies. Contrary to findings of earlier investigators, there was little evidence of attempts by patients with AMI to deny the existence of the illness as a means of coping.