Spouses' psychosocial problems, resources, and marital functioning postmyocardial infarction.

The psychosocial problems and adjustments of 40 myocardial infarction (MI) patients and their spouses were examined 3 months after hospitalization. The following relationships were explored: spouse anxiety and coping methods with marital functioning; and couple-shared responsibility and the patient's perception of spouse's beliefs about patient compliance in regard to actual patient compliance. Results indicate that spouses received minimal information about expected roles and responsibilities, and no information about the patients' symptoms or the spouses' personal needs after discharge. Approximately 50% of the spouses received information on the medical regimen and cardiac condition. Patient compliance was high for all regimen prescriptions, and patient's perception of spouse's beliefs was significantly related to patient compliance. There was almost no agreement between patient and spouse on shared responsibility for regimen compliance. Marital functioning was negatively related to state/trait anxiety with trait anxiety predictive of marital functioning. Problem solving was the coping method most frequently used by spouses, with emotive (affective) coping methods negatively related to marital functioning. These findings lend support for future studies to examine the most effective method of couple inclusion in rehabilitation programs. In addition, program content should reflect the information spouses perceive as necessary for them to receive in such programs.