Improving family functioning after cardiac surgery: a randomized trial.
As part of a randomized clinical trial of in-hospital and postdischarge nursing interventions designed to facilitate the individual patient's recovery and improve the family's functioning after cardiac surgery, we followed 67 patient-spouse pairs for 6 months after surgery. Family health was appraised by using three pencil and paper measurements: the Family APGAR, the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale, and the Family Inventory of Resources for Management. Mixed-effects analysis of variance did not detect differences for the main effect of intervention group; however, the main effect of time was significant for both patients' and spouses' APGAR scores and for patients' Marital Adjustment Scale scores, suggesting a pattern of response during recovery from cardiac surgery.
Gilliss
C L
CL
Department of Family Health Care Nursing, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0606.
Neuhaus
J M
JM
Hauck
W W
WW
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology*; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology