A LONGITUDINAL CAUSAL MODEL OF CARDIAC INVALIDISM FOLLOWING MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION

Background: Invalidism has been discussed in the cardiovascular litera ture for decades. Researchers have studied health perceptions, emotion al distress, and dependency in patients after acute myocardial infarct ion in an attempt to understand the phenomenon. However, no theory of the manner in which these variables interact has been proposed. Object ives: Using previous research, a model of invalidism was specified in which individuals' perceptions that their health is poor lead to emoti onal distress and increased dependency. As health perceptions improve over time, emotional distress and dependency decrease. Method: Survey data were collected from 111 men and women 1 and 4 months after a firs t myocardial infarction and were tested using structural equation mode ling. Results: The model was rejected using a confirmatory approach (c hi(2)(89)= 141.40; p=.00034). The fit indices, however, suggested an a dequate fit of the model to the data (CFI=.96; NNFI=.94). Conclusion: The conclusion is that the model is reasonable and serves as a startin g point for a theory-based empirical exploration of the invalidism pro cess.