Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2020; 68(S 02): S79-S101
DOI: 10.1055/s-0040-1705568
Short Presentations
Monday, March 2nd, 2020
Intensive Care Medicine
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Emotion Regulation in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease

A. L. S. Ehmann
1   Heidelberg, Germany
,
L. Pruessner
1   Heidelberg, Germany
,
S. Barnow
1   Heidelberg, Germany
,
P. Helm
2   Berlin, Germany
,
U. Bauer
2   Berlin, Germany
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
13 February 2020 (online)

Objectives: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is associated with significant daily stressors, such as physical limitations, and reduced social participation that require psychological adjustment. Successful emotion regulation may be a central component of this adjustment, potentially explaining heterogeneity in life satisfaction among patients. Despite the importance of understanding emotion regulatory mechanisms, underlying the adjustment to this illness, research has so far not investigated emotion regulation in individuals with CHD.

Methods: To address this research gap, we conducted a study to assess the relationship between emotion regulation and life satisfaction in individuals with CHD. Participants were recruited from the database of the German National Register for Congenital Heart Defects. A sample of 1,233 patients over the age of 18 years (range: 18–85 years; 59.8% female) was recruited and classified into severe, moderate, or mild conditions of CHD. Participants completed measures of the habitual use of eight emotion strategies (Heidelberg Form for Emotion Regulation Strategies), quality of life (Short-Form Health), and subjective life satisfaction (Satisfaction With Life Scale).

Result: Regression analyses revealed that the emotion regulation strategies rumination ( = &−0.21, p < 0.001), expressive suppression ( = &−0.18, p < 0.001), and avoidance ( = &−0.15, p < 0.001) were negatively related to life satisfaction in adults with CHD, whereas reappraisal ( = 0.36, p < 0.001), acceptance ( = 0.29, p < 0.001), problem solving ( = 0.21, p < 0.001), and social support ( = 0.28, p < 0.001) were positively associated with life satisfaction. Moderator analyses further suggested that the importance of using these emotion regulation strategies for subjective life satisfaction significantly differed, depending on the severity of CHD (all p < 0.01). For example, avoidance tended to have an increased negative association with life satisfaction at higher levels of CHD severity (p < 0.01), whereas acceptance had a stronger positive relationship with life satisfaction at mild and moderate compared with severe conditions of CHD (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: These findings indicate that emotion regulation may be fundamental for determining life satisfaction in individuals with CHD. Implications for psychological interventions for adults with this condition are discussed. We conclude that effective treatment plans for CHD should address emotion regulation processes.