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Buckland, Sydney

Nursing

2004

M.S.

For many years, women were thought to be at low risk for having serious heart disease and were therefore largely ignored by the medical community. However, the picture of women's risk has emerged differently since that time, and women are very clearly at enormous risk for serious cardiac events, particularly later in life. Myocardial infarction is the primary cause of death for women over 40 years of age in this country. Though most women worry more about such health issues as breast cancer, they are much more likely to die from a heart attack. Because heart disease and its related complications take so many lives each year, a great deal of research effort and funding has been put toward improving interventions to save lives at the time of crisis and to improve outcomes post-crisis. Less studied by researchers is prevention, particularly prevention of the initial health crisis. What is nearly completely lacking in the research literature is an examination of the emic view (the view from the individual's perspective) of persons diagnosed with heart disease. Because we do not know how people who are diagnosed with coronary artery disease perceive their diagnosis, creating successful intervention strategies is challenging, and discovering what is lacking with the current strategies we are proposing to these patients is unlikely.
The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of middle-aged women living in rural Vermont who have been diagnosed with coronary artery disease (CAD). The study is a qualitative replication study based on two studies published by LaCharity, "The experiences of postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease" and "The experiences of younger women with coronary artery disease," (LaCharity, 1997 & 1999 respectively). LaCharity's studies are some of the very few that examine the emic view of women's experiences with CAD diagnosis. By utilizing LaCharity's work as a basis for replication, this study will expand our understanding of women's experiences with the diagnosis of CAD. It will provide the emic view of living daily with the knowledge of heart disease and high cardiac risk, and it may ultimately provide a means toward formulating new health promotion strategies and improving existing health promotion programs.