Relationship Between Resilience and Perceived Control After Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Prospective Study

Patients with acute coronary syndrome report poor health-related quality of life and decreased levels of perceived control. Perceived control is a person's belief that they can cope with negative events. Resilience is an adaptation that gives people the capacity to recover from difficult situations, and higher levels of resilience may impact recovery after an acute event.

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between resilience, perceived control, and health outcomes of patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome within 6 months of discharge.

Data were collected prospectively from adult patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome in 3 university hospitals in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, Japan. All data were collected between December 2015 and December 2019. The Sukemune-Hiew Resilience Test (part 1) was used to measure resilience, which includes 3 domains of social support, self-efficacy, and sociality. The Control Attitudes Scale-Revised was used to measure perceived control. Linear regression and path analysis were used to statistically analyze the relationship among variables.

Higher resilience, especially self-efficacy, was associated with higher perceived control during admission. Higher resilience, especially social support, during admission was associated with perceived control at 6 months after adjusting for income and education. Higher resilience during admission was associated with better perceived control at 3 months, which was associated with better health outcomes at 6 months. Higher income and lower depression were related to higher resilience.

Nurses should make sure patients with depression, low income, and low social support are connected with appropriate treatment and social support resources.