Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life among Thai People with Coronary Heart Disease: A Preliminary Study

Objective: To examine the prediction of severity of illness, health promoting behaviors, cardiac self-efficacy, and acceptance of illness on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Thai people with coronary heart disease (CHD) in Thailand.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. A quota sampling was used to recruit 110 people with CHD, who met the inclusion criteria, from 20 selected hospitals across Thailand. Five self-reporting questionnaires were used: a demographic data questionnaire, Thai version of MacNew HRQOL, Thai version of Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II, Thai version of Cardiac Self-Efficacy Scale Questionnaire, and the Thai version of Acceptance of Illness Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a point-biserial correlation or a bivariate Pearson’s correlation and multiple stepwise regression analyses. Results: One hundred and ten people were included. Most of the participants were men (64.5%) with an average age of 62.07±9.98 years. Most of them (76.4%) were best categorized as class I under the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS) classification system. The findings showed that 46 percent of the variance (adjusted R2 =0.46) for HRQOL was explained by being CCS class I (β=0.22, p-value<0.010), cardiac self-efficacy (β=0.41, p-value<0.010) and acceptance of illness (β=0.35, p-value<0.010). Health promoting behavior was a non-significant predictor of HRQOL (β=0.10, p-value=0.260).Conclusion: The results support the severity of illness, cardiac self-efficacy, and acceptance of illness in explaining HRQOL among people with CHD. Therefore, nursing interventions that are suitable for the severity of the disease, and aimed at boosting cardiac self-efficacy and acceptance of illness should be considered to enhance HRQOL.