Adherence to treatment after CABG in terms of patients’ personality

Abstract

The relevance of the problem is caused by the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among the population, including coronary heart disease which requires surgical treatment, on the one hand, and low rates of treatment adherence among patients with chronic diseases, which reduce the effectiveness of the treatment and survival rates of patients, on the other hand. Patients after CABG were divided into groups according to the degree of their adherence to treatment and were examined by using the Big Five Questionnaire. Differences between the groups on the scales “conscientiousness” (p<0,001), “openness” (p<0,001), “agreeableness” (p<0,05), and “neuroticism” (p<0,05) were revealed. The study showed that the psychological factors are relevant in the definition of adherence to treatment and patients’ personality traits are potentially significant for the prediction of its degree among patients after CABG.

Keywords

• clinical psychology
• CABG
• adherence to treatment
• personality
• Big Five Questionnaire