The mediating role of psychological distress and self-efficacy in explaining causal relationships between emotion regulation strategies and treatment adherence in coronary heart disease patients

Chronic diseases such as heart patients cause psychological changes in patients in addition to physical symptoms, which can increase the damage caused by this disease for individuals and society. Therefore, the necessity of research in the field of examining the psychological factors of these patients in order to increase their mental health is significant.

The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the mediating role of psychological distress and self-efficacy in explaining the causal relationships between emotion regulation strategies and adherence to treatment in coronary heart disease patients.

The present research method was descriptive and correlation and structural equations type.
The statistical population of the study included all patients with coronary artery disease who had referred to Shahid Chamran Hospital in Isfahan in 2022. The statistical sample included 218 patients with coronary artery disease who were selected by purposeful sampling based on the research entry criteria. The tools used in the present research include questionnaires of adherence to the treatment of chronic diseases (Syd Fatemi et al., 2018), perceived social support (Zimmat et al., 1998), psychological distress (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), self-efficacy in cardiovascular disease management (Staka et al., 2015) and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation (Garnefski et al., 2006).
Data analysis was analyzed using two or multiple comparison and relational inferences in data analysis and SPSS.22 and Amos.22 software.

The findings of the present study showed that the causal model of treatment adherence based on emotion regulation strategies with the mediating role of psychological distress and self-efficacy in patients with coronary heart disease has a good fit (P>0.05).

The results of this research can help patients with coronary artery disease to achieve effective strategies to deal with the disease and achieve a useful medical and psychological outcome by using psychological distress management and cardiovascular disease management self-efficacy