Paper: COVID-19 led to greater hopelessness among heart patients
Dunn leads paper on COVID-19 affects on heart disease patients
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the outlook of patients with ischemic heart disease?
Perhaps not surprisingly, the worse these patients perceived the pandemic’s impact on their lives, the more they felt acutely or chronically hopeless, and this relationship was explained in part by anxiety, according to a paper published online in the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention in August. UIC Nursing emerita professor Susan Dunn, PhD, RN, was lead author on the paper.
“In this first study to report hopelessness levels in patients with cardiac disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the factors that were related to increased hopelessness included limited food access, lower social support, stress and limited family income or employment,” Dunn says.
The patients were part of an NIH-funded study (Heart Up!) that Dunn was already conducting on hopelessness and ischemic heart disease when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. She received an NIH supplement to study the effects of the pandemic.
Anxiety plays integral role in impact of COVID-19
Hopelessness is defined as a negative outlook and feelings of helplessness regarding the future and can be either a temporary response to an event (“state”) or a habitual outlook (“trait”).
“Given that patients with [ischemic heart disease] who express hopelessness feel negative and helpless about their future, they may feel less motivated in making lifestyle changes, thus increasing risk for further development of … adverse events [related to the disease],” according to the paper.
The relationship between hopelessness and perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was explained in part by anxiety.
“The pandemic disrupted people’s lives by creating mandated shelter-in-place and physical distancing measures,” Dunn says. “It also created a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. Not only were people separated from their typical social support system, they were worried about access to food and income.”
Dunn’s co-authors on the paper are all current or emerita faculty, staff or alumni at UIC Nursing: Holli DeVon, PhD, RN; Eileen Collins, PhD, RN; Anna Luong, PhD RN; Heather Pauls Hrynyk, MPH; Mia Cajita, PhD, RN; and Nathan Tintle, PhD.