Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving Partners
Background: The experience of an acute coronary event (ACE), including early care and evaluation, can be a distressing and traumatic experience for patients and their romantic partners, who also act as caregivers. We hypothesized that, among partners who were present during the ACE, those who were a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00141/full |
| _version_ | 1828756622677114880 |
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| author | Talea Cornelius Noa Vilchinsky Keren Fait Shlomi Matetzky Shlomi Matetzky Hanoch Hod Hanoch Hod |
| author_facet | Talea Cornelius Noa Vilchinsky Keren Fait Shlomi Matetzky Shlomi Matetzky Hanoch Hod Hanoch Hod |
| author_sort | Talea Cornelius |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: The experience of an acute coronary event (ACE), including early care and evaluation, can be a distressing and traumatic experience for patients and their romantic partners, who also act as caregivers. We hypothesized that, among partners who were present during the ACE, those who were also present during (1) transportation to the hospital and (2) initial medical treatment would experience greater (a) anxiety early post-event and (b) posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) related to the event 4 months later. The associations between partner presence with patient anxiety and PSS were also explored.Methods: Participants were ACE patients and their partners recruited between March 2015 and December 2016 from the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) of the Sheba Medical Center in Israel (N = 143; all patients were males and partners were females). Partners self-reported whether or not they were present during the cardiac event, the hospital drive, and initial care. Patients and partners self-reported anxiety in-hospital and PSS, keyed to the ACE, an average of 4 months later. Data were analyzed using General Estimating Equations (GEE) and Multilevel Modeling.Results: Neither patient anxiety nor PSS differed according to partner presence during the drive to the hospital. In contrast, partners had higher anxiety when they were not present at all (difference = 3.65, p = 0.019) and when present during the event and during the drive (difference = 2.93, p = 0.029) as compared to when they were present for the event but not for the drive. Partners who were present during the event, but not the drive, had lower PSS than those who were present for both the event and the drive (difference = −4.64, p = 0.026).Conclusions: Partners who accompany patients on the drive to the hospital may inadvertently put themselves at risk for greater distress following their loved one’s cardiac event. Future research should enroll couples in an acute care context to inform couple-targeted tailored interventions to reduce distress in patients and their caregiving partners. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T23:20:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bab6a2c43e0b4afba04d0782d8c87985 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T23:20:13Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-bab6a2c43e0b4afba04d0782d8c879852022-12-22T01:29:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782020-02-011110.3389/fpsyg.2020.00141496385Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving PartnersTalea Cornelius0Noa Vilchinsky1Keren Fait2Shlomi Matetzky3Shlomi Matetzky4Hanoch Hod5Hanoch Hod6Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, IsraelDepartment of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, IsraelIntensive Cardiac Care Unit, Leviev Heart Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Ramat Gan, IsraelThe Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, IsraelIntensive Cardiac Care Unit, Leviev Heart Institute, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Ramat Gan, IsraelThe Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, IsraelBackground: The experience of an acute coronary event (ACE), including early care and evaluation, can be a distressing and traumatic experience for patients and their romantic partners, who also act as caregivers. We hypothesized that, among partners who were present during the ACE, those who were also present during (1) transportation to the hospital and (2) initial medical treatment would experience greater (a) anxiety early post-event and (b) posttraumatic stress symptoms (PSS) related to the event 4 months later. The associations between partner presence with patient anxiety and PSS were also explored.Methods: Participants were ACE patients and their partners recruited between March 2015 and December 2016 from the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) of the Sheba Medical Center in Israel (N = 143; all patients were males and partners were females). Partners self-reported whether or not they were present during the cardiac event, the hospital drive, and initial care. Patients and partners self-reported anxiety in-hospital and PSS, keyed to the ACE, an average of 4 months later. Data were analyzed using General Estimating Equations (GEE) and Multilevel Modeling.Results: Neither patient anxiety nor PSS differed according to partner presence during the drive to the hospital. In contrast, partners had higher anxiety when they were not present at all (difference = 3.65, p = 0.019) and when present during the event and during the drive (difference = 2.93, p = 0.029) as compared to when they were present for the event but not for the drive. Partners who were present during the event, but not the drive, had lower PSS than those who were present for both the event and the drive (difference = −4.64, p = 0.026).Conclusions: Partners who accompany patients on the drive to the hospital may inadvertently put themselves at risk for greater distress following their loved one’s cardiac event. Future research should enroll couples in an acute care context to inform couple-targeted tailored interventions to reduce distress in patients and their caregiving partners.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00141/fullacute cardiac eventcaregiversacute careanxietyposttraumatic stresscouples |
| spellingShingle | Talea Cornelius Noa Vilchinsky Keren Fait Shlomi Matetzky Shlomi Matetzky Hanoch Hod Hanoch Hod Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving Partners Frontiers in Psychology acute cardiac event caregivers acute care anxiety posttraumatic stress couples |
| title | Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving Partners |
| title_full | Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving Partners |
| title_fullStr | Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving Partners |
| title_full_unstemmed | Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving Partners |
| title_short | Early Exposure to Cardiac Treatment and Distress Among Patients and Their Caregiving Partners |
| title_sort | early exposure to cardiac treatment and distress among patients and their caregiving partners |
| topic | acute cardiac event caregivers acute care anxiety posttraumatic stress couples |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00141/full |
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