Christman N J, McConnell E A, Pfeiffer C, Webster K K, Schmitt M, Ries J
College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40536-0232.
Res Nurs Health. 1988 Apr;11(2):71-82. doi: 10.1002/nur.4770110203.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of uncertainty in illness and use of coping methods on emotional distress and recovery following myocardial infarction. A longitudinal exploratory design with measures obtained at three times was used; multiple regression was used to analyze the data. Uncertainty explained a significant amount of the variance in emotional distress prior to hospital discharge (21%), and 1 (16%) and 4 (26%) weeks after discharge. Patients reporting greater uncertainty also reported more emotional distress. One week after discharge, coping behaviors significantly added to the variance explained in distress (27%). Greater use of emotive coping behaviors was associated with higher levels of emotional distress and accounted for the majority of the variance explained by coping behaviors (23%). The findings are discussed in terms of the nature of uncertainty in health care and future model development.
