0 - Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

BiopsychosociaJ Effects Among Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients
Salmon, Mikhail, Stanford, Zeilinski, & Pepper (1998) report that depressed
patients often report thoughts and feelings of unstable health such as "1 will never get
better, or I have no hope of getting better". Patients "vho have negative thoughts regarding
their recoveries are caught in a cycle of depression. It is well documented that negative
thinking can create negative emotions and therefc)re influence one' s behavior. Patients
with this negative bias will most likely experience depression and will be unmotivated to
make changes in their recoveries (Freeman. Pretzer, Fleming & Simon, 1990).
CABO patients suffer social consequences of depression. Soderman, Usspers. &
Sundin (2003), report that social activities and self-care decreases as a consequence of
post-surgery depression. A major goal of cardiac rehabilitation, as previously identified,
is returning to work. For many patients this important objective of social functioning and
well-being is limited by depression. The authors also examine whether or not depression
has a predicting factor in patients retW'ning to work. The results indicate that clinical
depression rates show signific;:mtly poorer retlU'l1S to work. Other variables, however,
such as the relationship of limited activities, social support, coping and HRQL, are not
addressed in this research.
The Relationship o/Demographic Characteristics in Depressed C4BG Patients
Research indicates that depression, among diverse populations, conelates highly
with patients' follow-through with medication and cardiac programs. They postulate that
health behaviors may serve as a pathway through which perceptions of discrimination can
shape health care (Clark, Anderson, Clark & Williams, 1999). The authors' retrospective
study examines African American, Latino, Caucasian, and other diverse populations.
Results indicate that cultural differences are associated with reluctance in health
intervention.
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