The Relationship Between the Illness Perception of Patients After Acute Myocardial Infarction and Their Quality of Life

Background: Myocardial Infarction (M.I) is a Heart disease that considered as one of the most serious problems of the modern world and is one of Israel's leading causes of death. Patients who survived the heart attack are likely to face a new challenge of recovery and to adapt to chronic illness. The perception of the disease may affect the way of the patients' way of coping with chronic illness and their quality of life. Aim: Examing the relationship between the Illness Perception of patients after acute Myocardial Infarction (M.I) and their Quality of Life Methods: The sample included 110 respondents, post M.I The data was collected by questionnaires: The illness perception and the Multi-dimensional quality of life. Results: Findings indicate that the more sense of negative disease perception in the eyes of M.I patients, there is lower quality of life. Furthermore, there are significant positive correlations between some of the illness perception components and quality of life of M.I patients. Conclusion: It seems that the way that patients perceive and conceptualize their heart disease, is one of the factors that affect their quality of life. The identification of adaptive illness perceptions and accordingly, the treatment plans, may make it easier to M.I patients to cooperate throughout all stages of their recovery, and to adapt themselves to chronic illness