INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION LEVELS WITH PSYCHOSOCIAL ADAPTATION OF PATIENTS WHO EXPERIENCED MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

İntroduction and aim: myocardial infarction (mi), psychiatric complications of the disease are among the most developed. recognition of the psychosocial adaptation levels of patients with mi, and the determination of their levels of depression and anxiety, will be helpful in the launching of earily initiatives in this area. this study was had performed to investigate of the relationship between depression and anxiety with the psychosocial adaptation, levels of patients who had experienced myocardial infarction (mi). materials and methods: a total of 86 patients who were admitted to the coronary intensive care unit of ege university with mi diagnosis between october and december 2009 and who visited the cardiology polyclinic as outpatients comprised the sampling of this study. sample selection was not performed and research was carried out with 86 patients who agreed to participate. in the data collection a “patient introductory information form” involving the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients, “psychosocial adaptation scale”, “beck depression inventory” and “beck anxiety inventory” were used. findings: when the sociodemographic characteristics of the patients were scrutinized, it was determined that their mean age was 57.50 ± 10.43 years. 76.7 % were males, 79.1 % were married, 40.7 % were elementary school graduates, 94 % were living with their families, 95 % had social security and 50.0 % had income equal to expenses. patients’ mean psychosocial adaptation scores were moderately good pais-sr (48.51 ± 16.57), their mean depression scores (12.00 ± 10.22) were low and mean anxiety scores were at a similarly low level (11.00 ± 11.32). it was determined that in patients experiencing mi at a younger age, in those who are unmarried or live alone, in those with low incomes and those who have difficulty coping with stress, psychosocial adaptation scores were lower. a significant positivite correlation was found between pais-sr scores and scores for depression (p<0.05). as the depression and anxiety scores of patients experiencing mi increase, their psychosocial adaptation scores increase, thus their levels of adaptation fall. increased mean anxiety and depression scores will decrease individuals’ adaptation to disease (p<0.01). conclusion: consequently, during the process of reducing the negative effects exerted by heart disease, which is a chronic disease, on the individual, family and community and increasing patients’ psychosocial adaptation, nurses should consider patients’ individual and disease-related characteristics and provide support for them in developing their psychosocial adaptation.