Resource potential of personality in cardiac surgery patients: characteristics of hardiness and social support

In cardiovascular surgery, the stress of surgical treatment is added to the traditional psychosocial factors of cardiac pathology. In connection with the tasks of psychological help, data on the resource potential of the personality of a cardiac surgical patient, determined by the totality of his intrapersonal and interpersonal resources, are of particular importance. In this work, based on the assessment of the characteristics of hardiness and social support and taking into account the specifics of the surgical intervention, the features of the resource potential of the personality in cardiac surgery patients at the preoperative stage of treatment were determined. Using the Hardiness Test and the Multidimensional Social Support Perception Scale, 152 patients with cardiovascular diseases who were admitted to the hospital for surgical treatment were studied. Taking into account the volume and nature of the planned surgical intervention, patients were assigned to three clinical groups. According to the results of the study, it was found that in patients preparing for massive open heart surgery, the intrapersonal adaptive resource of hardiness at the level of most components is insufficient. The interpersonal resource of social support is fully implemented in all cardiac surgery patients; in terms of social support for the family and significant others, it is close to excessive. At the preoperative stage of work with cardiac patients, it is recommended to rely more on the resources of social support for the family and significant others. Psychological work with the intrapersonal resource of hardiness can be carried out at later stages of rehabilitation.