Assessment of the Quality of Life and Coping Strategies among Male and Female Patients Attending OPD with Myocardial Infarction in Selected Hospitals at Mangaluru

AIM: The purpose of the study is to assess the quality of life and coping strategies among male and female patients attending OPD with myocardial infarction in selected hospitals at Mangaluru.

 BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as heart attack, is the condition of irreversible necrosis of the heart muscle that results from prolonged ischemia, mainly when the coronary arteries that supply blood to heart become completely obstructed.Quality of life (QOL) is an important outcome among myocardial infarction(MI) patients and stress is the inability to cope with a perceived or real threat to one's mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing which result in series of physiological responses and adaptations. Staying fit and active after a heart attack helps to live longer and also improves the quality of life..

METHOD: A descriptive correlative survey design was used for assessment of the quality of life and coping strategies among male and female patients attending OPD with myocardial infarction. Using purposive sampling technique, 40 patients ( 20 male and 20 female ) who are attending OPD after 2 week of initial diagnosis of MI. Quality of life Index-cardiac Version(QLI) IV and Brief coping scale were used for assessing quality of life and coping strategies respectively.

RESULT: There was no significant difference in the quality of life among male and female patients (t₁=.543,t₂=.396,p<0.05) and coping strategies among male and female patients (t=1.485,p<0.05).There was a no significant correlation between the quality of life( importance) and coping strategies in the male and female patients (r= - .156,r=.273,p=<0.05) and the quality of life( satisfaction) and coping strategies in the male and female patients (r= -.295,r= -.051,p=<0.05), respectively.

CONCLUSION: The findings of the study concluded that there was a no significant correlation between the quality of life and coping strategies among the male and female patients with myocardial infarction. Nurses should educate the patients to use of appropriate measures to improve the quality of life and coping strategies among myocardial patients.