Myocardial Infarction: A Study of the Effects On Patient Compliance of Structured Education and Participation of the Significant Other This study was designed to explore the effects of the independent variables of patient education and the significant other on compliance. The purpose of the study was to test three hypotheses predicting that subjects who receive structured education with their significant other would have higher compliance rates with health care recommendations than would subjects who receive structured and unstructured education without their significant other.
The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 12 male patients who had a significant other and had not experienced a previous myocardial infarction within five years. The convenience sample was then randomly and equally allocated into three groups. The control group received unstructured education as currently practiced by nursing staff. One experimental group received structured education from the investigator and the other experimental group of subjects and their significant other received structured education from the investigator. Using a semi-structured interview guide, the investigator interviewed each subject at one month and at three to four months postdischarge from hospital to determine compliance rates with physical activity, dietary, and medication health care recommendations as prescribed by the subject's physician. Open-ended questions were used to determine recommendations and difficulties encountered by noncompliers. More specific questions were used to allow subjects to rate their compliance. Results were subjected to the Kruskal-Wallis rank-sum test with one-way analysis of variance.
Statistically significant differences (p < .05) were not found suggesting that method of patient education was not a valid prediction of compliant behaviour. The insignificant findings of this study need to be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size and between group differences of the demographic variables of age and employment.
From general observations of the total sample, personal definitions of health, simultaneous demands and the extent of behavioural changes required, and the demographic variables of education and employment appear to influence compliance. These findings suggest that individual differences have an impact on compliant behaviour. Findings also suggest that the significant others of patients with myocardial infarctions are actively involved with the therapeutic regimen prescribed for their mates.
The study discusses implications and recommendations for nurse practitioners and researchers who wish to improve their care of myocardial infarction patients and their significant others. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/24416 |
| Date | January 1985 |
| Creators | Kirk, Rhonda Rae |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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