Abstract
Background: Reducing patient delay is key to reducing mortality in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Interventions to date have had little success.
Aim: To explore whether illness representations (Leventhal's Commonsense Model of Self-Regulation (CS-SRM)) are associated with patient delay (appraisal or illness delay) in those with symptoms of ACS.
Design: A CS-SRM questionnaire study
Methods: A random sample of 182 patients who contacted NHS 24 with symptoms of ACS completed the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire and gave access to data from their NHS 24 records.
Results: Median appraisal delay was 2 hours. Median illness delay was 75 minutes. Women were more likely than men to have long appraisal delays (>2 hours) (57% vs 43%, c2(df=1)=3.93, P=0.047) but did not differ regarding illness delay. Gender and illness representations (identity, emotion and consequences) predicted appraisal delay category (c2=19.907, df=4, P=0.001).
Conclusions: Appraisal and illness delays may be associated with different factors. Interventions addressing illness representations might reduce appraisal delay, especially in women.
Aim: To explore whether illness representations (Leventhal's Commonsense Model of Self-Regulation (CS-SRM)) are associated with patient delay (appraisal or illness delay) in those with symptoms of ACS.
Design: A CS-SRM questionnaire study
Methods: A random sample of 182 patients who contacted NHS 24 with symptoms of ACS completed the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire and gave access to data from their NHS 24 records.
Results: Median appraisal delay was 2 hours. Median illness delay was 75 minutes. Women were more likely than men to have long appraisal delays (>2 hours) (57% vs 43%, c2(df=1)=3.93, P=0.047) but did not differ regarding illness delay. Gender and illness representations (identity, emotion and consequences) predicted appraisal delay category (c2=19.907, df=4, P=0.001).
Conclusions: Appraisal and illness delays may be associated with different factors. Interventions addressing illness representations might reduce appraisal delay, especially in women.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 493-499 |
Journal | British Journal of Cardiac Nursing |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2012 |
Keywords
- acute coronary syndrome
- illness representations
- pre-hospital delay
- symptoms
- NHS 24
- seeking help