An exploratory study of body awareness in persons with heart failure treated medically or with transplantation.
Heart failure is a chronic disabling problem afflicting a growing number of adults. These individuals experience episodes of exacerbation demonstrated by increasing shortness of breath, fatigue, and fluid retention. The symptoms often develop in a slow and insidious manner making perception of worsening difficult to determine. Theoretically, an increase in body awareness may help individuals recognize symptoms of worsening heart failure earlier, but it is not known whether increased body awareness leads to somatization, an abnormal dwelling on body symptoms. This study was conducted to describe body awareness in 90 persons with heart failure or after transplant. We found that the Body Awareness Quesionnaire was a reliable measure of this concept in this sample. When body awareness was examined for age, gender, and treatment (HF or transplant) group were examined, no significant differences were found. Furthermore, there were no significant relationships between body awarenss and negative moods such as anxiety, depression, or anger. Interventions to enhance body awareness may be a fruitful new direction that will improve symptom recognition without increasing somatization in persons with heart failure.
University of Cincinnati College of Nursing, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA. linda.baas@uc.edu
Linda S
LS
Baas
Theresa A
TA
Beery
Gordon
G
Allen
Michael
M
Wizer
Lynne E
LE
Wagoner
D000339:Affect; D000786:Anger; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001364:Awareness; D001828:Body Image; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009341:Negativism; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*