Introduction

Kristofferzon, Lofmark, and Carlsson (2005) conducted a comparative-descriptive study to determine if women and men differ in their perceived coping, social support, and quality of life one month post myocardial infarction (MI). The sample of convenience included 171 subjects, 74 women and 97 men. Each participant completed a study-specific questionnaire (demographics and risk factors), the ]CS-60 (measured use of coping strategies), the social network and social support questionnaire (measured social participation and emotional support), the SF-36 Health Survey (measured perceived health-related quality of life), and the QLI (measured perceived quality of life). In addition, the researchers conducted a chart review of each participant's medical record. In this study the results showed that "compared with men, women used more evasive and supportive coping and rated psychologic aspects of the heart disease as more problematic to manage. More women perceived available support from friends and grandchildren, and more men perceived available support from their partner. Women rated lower levels in physical and psychologic dimensions of quality of life" (Kristofferzon et al., 2005, p. 39).

Relevant Study Results

"A consecutive series of patients was selected from the medical records in 1 hospital between August 1999 and July 2001 for women and between August 1999 and August 2000 for men. With regard to a lower incidence rate of MI in women, a longer selection period was needed for them .... We decided to include 100 women and 100 men to have a comfortable margin for dropouts.

"An introductory letter, informed consent form, and questionnaires were mailed to eligible subjects 1 month after an acute MI. After 1 week, the first author phoned the patients. Those interested in participating returned the signed consent form and the completed questionnaires to the investigator within 1 to 2 weeks. The same questionnaires were mailed to the subjects on 3 occasions, 1, 4, and 12 months after MI. Data from 1 month are presented in this article" (Kristofferzon et al., 2005, p. 41).

"Of the target population of 338 women, 20% died before inclusion, 35% did not meet the inclusion criteria, and 23% declined participation; of the target population of 317 men, the corresponding numbers were 17%,27%, and 26%, respectively .... The final sample consisted of 74 women and 97 men" (Kristofferzon et al., 2005, p. 41).

In Table VI, are the quality of life measures reported by Kristofferzon et al. (2005) in their study of women and men following an MI. The level of significance or alpha for this study was set at 0.05.