Author(s)

Leily Zare¹, Hadi Hassankhani^2*, Hossein Doostkami³, Frances O. Brien⁴, Alireza Mohajjel Aghdam⁵

¹Nursing and Midwifery Faculty, Clinical Psychiatry Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences,Tabriz, Iran.
²Center of Qualitative Studies, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
³Medicine Faculty, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.
⁴School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁵Cardiovascular Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.

Background and Objective: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of sudden death. In this article, we compared patients’ illness perception (IP), treatment adherence and coping mechanisms of patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Methods: In this descriptive, prospective observational study IP, treatment adherence and coping of 140 patients were evaluated pre-PTCA, at the time of hospital discharge and 1 to 3 months post-PTCA by Illness Perception Questionnaire, Morisky Treatment Adherence and Carver’s brief COPE questionnaires. Results: 1 - 3 months post-PTCA, all dimensions of IP changed significantly except personal and treatment control. Adherence scores decreased simultaneously. With respect to coping mechanisms, all increased except behavioral disengagement, emotional support, instrumental support and religion which decreased significantly post-PTCA. Conclusions: In Overall, an improved IP and increased use of controllable causal attributions led to an increase in medication adherence and adaptive coping strategies. Post-treatment health behaviors are predictable by assessing patients’ illness-related beliefs beforehand.

Illness Perception, Adherence, Coping, Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA), Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)

Zare, L. , Hassankhani, H. , Doostkami, H. , O. Brien, F. and Mohajjel Aghdam, A. (2016) Illness Perception, Treatment Adherence and Coping in Persons with Coronary Artery Disease Undergoing Angioplasty. Open Journal of Nursing, 6, 549-557. doi: 10.4236/ojn.2016.67058.