Family Coping with the Crisis of Heart Attack

Forty families of patients who had suffered from their first heart attack were studied during the hospitalization and after discharge. Areas of family functioning examined were maintenance of the emotional health of family members, financial management, household management, and dealing with children and their needs. Impacts of this family crisis varied among these areas as well as over time. Families employed different sets of coping strategies in different areas of their life. Implications of these findings for social work intervention in such crises are discussed.