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A research team led by psychologist Meike Juergens of Philipps University in Marburg, Germany, surveyed 56 people who were set to undergo elective cardiac surgery: either coronary artery bypass grafting, a heart valve operation or a combination of the two.
As part of the survey, the heart patients filled out an Illness Perception Questionnaire. Among other things, it measured their beliefs regarding personal control (“The course of my heart condition depends on me”), their expected time frame (“My heart condition is likely to be permanent rather than temporary”), and their emotional response to the illness (“My heart condition makes me feel afraid”).
The researchers returned to the patients three months after their surgery. They found “higher levels of physical functioning were associated with the pre-surgery belief that the heart disease would be of short duration and would not be related to serious consequences.”
In contrast, “Patients who perceived their illness to have a chronic or cyclical time course and who perceived their illness to have severe consequences on their lives reported higher levels of disability, depressive symptoms and lower levels of physical functioning.”
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