Abstract

GRANILLO VELASCO, Luisa Fernanda; SANCHEZ ARAGON, Rozzana  and  GOMEZ BRISENO, German Arturo. Hurtful events, compassionate love, and quality of life in couples with heart disease. Psicumex [online]. 2020, vol.10, n.2, pp.45-70.  Epub Mar 02, 2021. ISSN 2007-5936.  https://doi.org/10.36793/psicumex.v10i2.350.

Since the couple’s relationship is a significant link, it is understandable that when one of the members suffers from heart disease, positive and negative variables come into play, such as hurtful events (HE), and compassionate love; affecting the quality of life of the couple. The objectives were: 1) to explore differences in the quality of life between people with heart disease and their partners, 2) to examine differences in the experience of HE, compassionate love and quality of life based on sex, and 3) to analyze the relationship of the experience of HE and compassionate love with quality of life. We worked with 204 Mexican couples between the ages of 18 and 88, of which 216 (105 women, 111 men) suffered from heart disease. The battery consisted of: 1) SF-36 Mental and Physical Health Status Scale, 2) Compassionate Love Scale and 3) Battery of Hurtful Events. For this, Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman’s correlation analysis were performed. The results showed differences in health outcomes between partners, and exhibited that the presence of HE and compassionate love may be related to the quality of life, which likewise may be more pervasive in people with heart disease. These results were discussed according to the theory, highlighting the interaction of the variables studied in couples with a chronic disease.

Keywords : Couple; Heart disease; Quality of life; Hurtful events; Compassionate love.