HEALTH LOCUS OF CONTROL IN THE PATIENTS WITH PERMANENT CARDIAC PACEMAKERS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Embedding a foreign body inside the heart is considered a significant event in a person's life and causes a change in the level of control a person has over the environment and his choices. Therefore, correctly identifying the center or source of control can play an essential role in formulating strategies for the participation of these patients in useful health behaviors and adopting active coping strategies. Considering the importance of understanding the dimensions of the health locus of control and the lack of a similar study on these patients, the present study was conducted to determine the health locus of control in the patients with a permanent cardiac pacemaker who were referred to the dysrhythmia clinic of Seyed al-Shohadah Center in Urmia, Iran between 2022 and 2023.

In this descriptive-analytical study, 350 patients with permanent cardiac pacemakers referred to the dysrhythmia clinic of Seyyed al-Shohada Teaching Hospital in Urmia were selected using convenience sampling, and they completed the questionnaire. Demographic questionnaire and Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) were used to collect data. This research was conducted over ten months, and all data was analyzed by SPSS software version 22 using descriptive statistics.

The results of this study showed that the highest mean scores among the dimensions of health locus of control belongs to external (28.90 ± 4.77) internal (26.03 ± 5.33) controls. Also, the lowest mean score was related to chance (17.76 ± 6.78).

It can be concluded that the center of health control of the patients with internal pacemakers is mainly from external control of powerful people. According to these patients, their health and care plan and definite consequences are controlled by medical staff, doctors, and specialists, and the patients feel that they have more prominent role in their health.