Sociocultural Factors in MI Recovery: An Exploratory Study

The reported study examines the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity in coping with a first acute myocardial infarction (MI). The study employed a panel design in which seventy-five patients were interviewed during acute hospitalization and six months later, and sixty of those were interviewed again at one year post-MI. Using the analysis of variance test, gradients in anxiety, functional status, and self-reported health status were found among lower SES Blacks, Hispanics, Anglos and upper SES Anglos as well as statistically significant differences in personal sense of control, beliefs about recovery, coping responses, and social support systems. More important, analysis of covariance documents that associations between coping variables and post-MI recovery outcomes vary among the different sociocultural groups.