Body Image and quality of life of senior citizens included in a cardiac rehabilitation program

Abstract

Most people who have to live with some kind of disease tend to adopt healthy habits and create new ways of seeing themselves. The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between the index of quality of life and self perception of patients included in a cardiovascular rehabilitation program in Florianopolis/Brazil. The sample consists of 24 subjects of 62 ± 1.3 years of age, who have coronary artery disease. The Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) was used to assess the quality of life, and to identify the degree of body image discontentment the Stunkard and Sorensen questionnaire (1993) was applied. Statistical analysis was made through statistics programs and the software SPSS 11.0. The degree of association between variables was studied with Kendall test. It was verified that the higher the BMI and the current body shape, the greatest the degree of body image dissatisfaction. The emotional symptoms also appear to be significantly correlated with a desire for a smaller body shape and with indicators of lower quality of life (r = 0474 = 0735, p major 0.05). The physical symptoms were also considerably associated with the emotional symptoms. These results suggest that the variables concerning the quality of life are meaningful to significant body image and satisfaction, which seems to correlate with fewer emotional problems and better facing of the disease. Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Programs that implement physical activity in daily habits proves to be a suitable tool for improving these ailments in this post-acute phase