title: Perceived control reduces emotional stress in patients with heart failure.
abstract: We studied patients with heart failure (HF) to determine if perceived control reduces emotional distress (i.e., anxiety, depression and hostility) in chronic, debilitating cardiac illness and whether the demographic, clinical and psychologic characteristics of patients with high and low perceived control differed. Psychological assessment of 222 patients with heart failure included an evaluation of perceived control using the Control Attitudes Scale, as well as anxiety, depression and hostility using the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. Using multivariate analysis to control for differences in demographic and clinical characteristics, we found that patients with high perceived control had significantly greater 6-minute walk distances and less emotional distress than patients with low perceived control. Interventions designed to increase perceived control may be an important aspect of HF care, but require testing in randomized trials.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0604, USA. kathy.dracp@nursing.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dracup
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Westlake
authors.forename: Virginia S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Erickson
authors.forename: Debra K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.forename: Mary L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Caldwell
authors.forename: Michelle A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000523:psychology*; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control*