The lived experience of coronary artery bypass graft in older men

Abstract

Cardiac surgery has often been classified as a ‘multidimensional phenomenon’, marred with extensive stress and heightened emotion (Allen, Becker, & Swank, 1990). By the term ‘multidimensional’, it is meant that three interrelated aspects are to be considered – namely, physiological and psychological adaptation, and social relationships – thus, echoing what the World Health Organisation (2006) advocates regards to the approach needed to explore health. Surprisingly, the psychosocial aspect of health is still considered of less importance than physiological health in the medical setting (Friedman, Furst, & Williams, 2010), even though it is found that both physical and mental illnesses appear to impact all three areas mentioned somewhat simultaneously (Guthrie et al., 2010). [Excerpt]