Psychosocial Problems among Patients undergoing Coronary Catheterization

Background: Coronary catheterization can be a stressful experience for many patients because of its invasive nature and potential risks. Aim: Assess psychosocial problems among patients undergoing coronary catheterization. Setting: the cardiac department and cardiac care unit at Ain Shams University specialized hospital, Egypt. Sample: A purposive sample composed of 100 patients undergoing coronary catheterization attending the previous mentioned setting. Tools: First tool, socio demographic interviewing sheet. Second tool, disease history questionnaire. Third tool, Patients' psychological and social problems questionnaire. Results: The mean age of studied patients was 53.6±4.2, more than two thirds of them were married, more than one third of them had technical institute education, the majority of the studied patients were working, More than two thirds of the studied patients were males and more than half of the studied patients were had enough monthly income. There is a highly statistical significant relation between age, gender and marital status of the studied patients and their severity of psychosocial problems. Conclusion: About half of the studied patients were always fear from death, anxious due to unknown procedure about catheterization & fear from hearing that someone death due to catheterization. Also, more than one third of the studied patients were always had family support by frequent visits, need others help before and after procedure, fear from affecting sexual desire & feel fatigue when doing any activities. Moreover, more than one third of the studied patients were always change work style after catheterization procedure, decrease ability to prognosis & decrease working hours. One third of the studied patients were sometimes had medical insurance & treatment at the expense of the state, while one third of them was rarely not had enough monthly income. More than one third of the studied patients were always had psychological, social & work respectively. Recommendations: Further research studies are needed for ongoing assessment of patients including large sample for generalization of results