Older women with cardiovascular disease often delay seeking help for symptoms and experience long-term changes in daily life that depend on how well behavior changes align with their sense of self.
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May support education to reduce symptom delays in women with CVD; leaves open effective strategies aligning behavior change with self-identity.
In 2004, we conducted qualitative interviews with 29 White women diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (CVD) living in Southwest Virginia, aged 69 to 92 years (M age = 79.2 years; SD = 6.8); time since diagnosis ranged from 1 to 50 years (M = 14.3; SD = 11.2). We explored the women's initial illness episode and the influence of CVD on their current daily functioning, family activities and relationships, and social engagement. The women were slow to seek help for CVD symptoms. Postrecovery, 62% of women perceived their heart disease as influencing change in their daily lives. The influence of CVD varied depending on how congruent behavior changes were with their sense of self.
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Husser et al. (2009) studied this question.
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