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Patient attributions for cardiac events: predictors of physical and psychological recovery
Author(s) -
Bennett Kymberley K.,
Marte Ricardo M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12103
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , equivalence (formal languages) , psychological stress , clinical psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , linguistics , philosophy
This study examined cardiac rehabilitation ( CR ) patients' causal attributions for their cardiac events, and used those attributions as predictors of cross‐sectional and prospective health status. Data were collected from 163 participants at the beginning and end of their CR programs. Results showed that patients' attributions can be categorized into controllable ones that are behavioral in nature, uncontrollable ones that are biological in nature, and a separate category for stress‐related causes. Findings showed that stress attributions at the beginning of CR were associated with engaging in healthy behaviors in the last month of CR , which, in turn, were positively associated with metabolic equivalence levels at the end of CR . Results imply a motivational component to believing that cardiac events are caused by stress.