Is having a job a protective factor? Employment status and state of medical care as subjectively perceived by adults with CHD in Germany.
BACKGROUND
Most patients born with CHD nowadays reach adulthood, and thus quality of life, life situation, and state of medical care aspects are gaining importance in the current era. The present study aimed to investigate whether patients' assessment depends on their means of occupation. The findings are expected to be helpful in optimising care and for developing individual treatment plans.


METHODS
The present study was based on an online survey conducted in cooperation with patient organisations. Participants were recruited from the database of the German National Register for Congenital Heart Defects. In total, 1828 individuals (777 males, 1051 females) took part. Participants were asked to rate aspects such their state of health on a six-tier scale (1=worst specification). Response behaviour was measured against the background of occupational details.


RESULTS
Training for or pursuing a profession was found to be significantly associated with participants' rating of five of the six examined aspects (p<0.05). Sex seemed to play an important part in four of the six aspects.


CONCLUSIONS
An optimal treatment plan for adults with CHD should always consider aspects such as sex and employment status. To work out such an optimal and individual treatment plan for each adult CHD patient, an objective tool to measure patients' actual CHD-specific knowledge precluding socially accepted response bias would be very useful.
1National Register for Congenital Heart Defects,Berlin,Germany.
Paul C
PC
Helm
2Department of Psychology,University of Cologne,Cologne,Germany.
Elisabeth J
EJ
Sticker
3Bundesvereinigung JEMAH e. V.,Aachen,Germany.
Roland
R
Keuchen
1National Register for Congenital Heart Defects,Berlin,Germany.
Marc-André
MA
Koerten
4Center for Adults with Congenital Heart Defects (EMAH-Center),Muenster University Hospital,Muenster,Germany.
Gerhard-Paul
GP
Diller
5Department of Cardiology and Angiology,Hannover Medical School,Hannover,Germany.
Oktay
O
Tutarel
1National Register for Congenital Heart Defects,Berlin,Germany.
Ulrike M M
UMM
Bauer
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D019468:Disease Management; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D015995:Prevalence; D065840:Protective Factors; D011788:Quality of Life; D012042:Registries; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
CHD; Job; adult patients; medical care; online survey; protective factor