RESEARCH ARTICLE
In Sickness and in Health: a Literature Review about Function of Social Support within Anxiety and Heart Disease Association
Cristina Zarbo 1, *, Angelo Compare 1, Elena Baldassari 1, Alberto Bonardi 1, Claudia Romagnoni 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 9
First Page: 255
Last Page: 262
Publisher ID: CPEMH-9-255
DOI: 10.2174/1745017901309010255
Article History:
Received Date: 17/5/2013Revision Received Date: 7/11/2013
Acceptance Date: 8/11/2013
Electronic publication date: 27 /12/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
A narrative review of the major evidence concerning the relationship between anxiety, social support and cardiac disease was conducted. Literature demonstrates that a strict relationship between anxiety, social support and cardiac disease outcomes subsists. However, the function of social support within anxiety and heart disease association remains unclear and needs to further researches to be established. Moreover evidence suggests that it’s the quality of close relationships to play an important role in affecting psychological and physiological health status. The main components that the literature suggests for a better quality of social support and close relationship, and the main assessment measure are presented. Evidence about cardiac rehabilitation programs and the need to assess and intervene on psychological and psychosocial factors is discussed.
