Relationship between Different Psychological Coping Strategies and Anxiety and Depression Levels in Heart Attack Patients

 Heart attack, as a threatening event, affects patients' mental health, thus causing symptoms of anxiety and depression. The current research was conducted with the aim to evaluate the relationship between different psychological coping strategies, and anxiety and depression levels in heart attack patients.

 The current research was a cross-sectional study. In 2021, 237 heart attack patients were referred to Ibn Al-Bitar Specialized Hospital for Cardiac Surgery, Al Budoor Hospital, and Saint Raphael (Al Rahibat) Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. A simple random sampling method was used to select a statistical sample of 114 patients. The Pearson correlation coefficient method was utilized. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS software. The statistical findings were considered significant at the 0.05 level.

 There was a significant negative correlation between anxiety and self-reliant (r = -0.538; P < 0.01), optimistic (r = -0.483; P < 0.01), supporting (r = -0.467; P < 0.01), and confronting (r = -0.391; P < 0.05) coping strategies. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between depression and self-reliant (r = -0.342; P < 0.01), confronting (r = -0.317; P < 0.01), supporting (r = -0.292; P < 0.01), and optimistic (r = -0.209; P < 0.05) coping strategies. Moreover, the results indicated a significant positive correlation between the fatalistic coping strategy and the anxiety (r = 0.429; P < 0.01) and depression (r = 0.214; P < 0.05) variables.

 Coping strategies are one of the main methods of improving life expectancy and well-being, and are essential in positive disease adaptation and reducing anxiety and depression levels in heart attack patients