Moderators of the relationship between trait anxiety and information received by patients post-myocardial infarction

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between trait anxiety and patients' evaluation of information they received during hospitalization post-myocardial infarction (MI), and to test the extent to which state anxiety and gender moderate this relationship. At the time of discharge from the hospital, 68 adult men and women who had had an MI responded to a demographic data sheet and to instruments measuring state anxiety, trait anxiety, and the quality of information they received during hospitalization. Data analysis indicated that the higher their trait anxiety, the less positively patients rated the quality of information they received during hospitalization post-MI. A series of regression analysis procedures designed to test for moderation indicated that neither state anxiety nor gender had a moderator effect on the relationship between trait anxiety and the quality of information received. The findings are interpreted within the theoretical perspectives that guided the study. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.