SENSE OF COHERENCE AS A PREDICTOR OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN PERSONS WITH CORONARY HEART-DISEASE SURVIVING CARDIAC-ARREST

The unique contribution of sense of coherence to explained variance in quality of life was studied in 149 persons with coronary heart diseas e who survived cardiac arrest. Using hierarchical multiple regression, 16 predictors, including 5 social status variables related to poor he alth vulnerability, perceived social support, self-esteem, and 9 varia bles reflecting instability and work of the chronic illness trajectory , accounted for 50% of variance in quality of life. The addition of se nse of coherence resulted in a 15% increment to the explained variance (total R(2) = .64). As a strong independent predictor of quality of l ife, sense of coherence has promise as a variable that might be streng thened by nursing interventions and merits continued study. (C) 1996 J ohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.