Coping as a mediator in recovery from cardiac surgery

Recovery from surgery can be facilitated by adaptive coping or it can be inhibited by maladaptive coping. Coping itself can be influenced by personal and social coping resources. Within a longitudinal design, 174 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery were surveyed before the event and interviewed afterwards. Presurgical personal and social resources, such as optimistic self-beliefs and social support, were examined along with social and ruminative ways of coping in terms of a variety of recovery outcomes. Worry, emotional states, mental activity, and physical activity were chosen as indicators of recovery. It was found that personal and social resources predicted recovery and that coping mediated presurgery resources and postsurgery readjustment. Covariance structure analysis revealed that seeking social support was an adaptive way of coping. It was positively associated with perceived self-efficacy and with recovery indicators, whereas rumination was negatively associated with bath resources and outcomes.