The Relationship Between Role Supplementation and the Level of Marital Functioning in Couples Living With Cardiac Disease

Abstract

The onset of heart disease brings about a physical and psychological insult that affects not only the patient but the spouse as well. Studies have described reactions by both patients and spouses and the effect of these responses on their relationship. Interventions in the past have focused primarily on treating the partners separately as patient or spouse. The intervention used in this study involved the patient and spouse as a couple in preparing them for role transition. Eighteen couples experiencing the onset of heart disease (Myocardial Infarction or Coronary Artery Bypass Graft procedure) participated in this study. Nine couples were in the experimental group and participated in a role supplementation program. Role supplementation consisted of role modeling and role discussion. Role modeling was facilitated by exposure to a role model couple (living with heart disease) in a group situation. The role discussion component occurred the day after the role model session and utilized a tool that allowed each partner to identify his/her responsibility for the treatment plan. The hypothesis of the study was that couples who participated in a role supplementation program would have a higher level of marital functioning than couples who did not participate in role supplementation. Couples in both groups completed a marital functioning questionnaire s ix weeks post discharge from the acute care setting. From this questionnaire a mutuality score was obtained. The experimental group was not found to have a higher level of marital functioning than the control group, therefore the hypothesis was not supported.