The relationship between marital quality and coronary artery bypass graft surgery as experienced by 3 couples.
OBJECTIVE
Marital quality is a key factor in the lived experiences of couples in which one of the partners has undergone coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Previous research about marital quality has been largely quantitative, and few studies have explored more holistically the marital couple and their experience of a major medical procedure. The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between marital quality and the ongoing dynamic of a couple's experience of bypass surgery.


METHODS
The study used the descriptive phenomenological-psychological method. The sample (N = 6) included 3 couples recruited from the Cardiac Wellness Institute of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who were married, and one of the partners had undergone CABG surgery in the last 2 years. Two face-to-face interviews were conducted with each couple; the transcribed data were analyzed using the phenomenological method. All variables about the marital relationship that arose in the interviews were used as the data for analysis.


RESULTS
A single structure was developed that describes the marital couple and their lived experience of this major medical procedure. The invariant meanings of the structure highlighted areas such as the impact of long-standing relational patterns and levels of marital satisfaction on a couple's postoperative adjustment.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study suggest that marital quality functioned as a major contributor (input) to couples' psychosocial recovery post-CABG surgery; conversely, bypass surgery highlighted existing levels of marital quality (output) and exacerbated weaknesses in the dyadic relationship.
Whitsitt
David R
DR
Alberta Health Services-Shared Mental Health, Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, Psychology Division, San Francisco, California, USA. drwhtisitt@shaw.ca
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000523:psychology*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological