The relation between resilience, spiritual well-being, and social support with adjustment to heart disease

Adjustment to heart disease, as a stressful experience, is a complicated process and causes serious problems for a heart patient. The present study aimed to find the relation between adjustment to heart disease and resilience, spiritual well-being, and social support. In this cross-sectional study a total of 327 patients with coronary artery disease (138 women and 189 men) were selected through convenient sampling. Participants completed the Adjustment to Illness Scale (AIS), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation and stepwise regression, through SPSS 18 software. Results showed that adjustment to heart disease had a significant direct relation with resiliency, spiritual well-being, perceived social support, and economic situation; and a significant inverse relation with the duration of the disease. Regression analysis revealed that resilience and resilience with spiritual well-being respectively predicted 39% and 42% of the variance of adjustment to heart disease. Focusing on resilience, spiritual well-being, perceived social support, duration of the disease and the economic situation is necssary in prevention programs. At an interventional level, along with the routine medical treatments, psychological interventions based on these variables are important.