Illness perception of nursing students regarding myocardial infarction

Health interventions aimed at secondary prevention of myocardial infarction (MI) are important. Patients' illness perceptions influence adherence behaviors and actions. Providing adequate infomation about the disease and lifestyle interventions is an important task for health care professionals. Therefore, a question of interest is how health care professionals perceive myocardial infarction themselves. The aim with the present study was to investigate how nursing students at a Swedish university perceived MI and to determine whether their illness perceptions changed during their six-term program of education. Illness perception was measured using the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) in a sample of 196 students enrolled in terms 2, 4, and 6 of the nursing program. A quasi-experimental design was used. Illness perceptions among nursing students were also compared to illness perceptions in a group of patients with coronary heart disease. The belief that it is possible to control MI through medical treatment became stronger during the course of nursing education. Nursing students were found to view the consequences of MI as serious, but also as medically treatable and responsive to lifestyle changes.