Tobacco dependence, assertiveness and alexithymia in cardiac patients
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-863X2010000200003Keywords:
smoking, assertiveness, alexithymia, myocardial infarctionAbstract
Smoking is a major cause of preventable death, which greatly increases the risk of suffering a myocardial infarction. This cardiac event is associated with certain psychosocial variables which have been related to smoking, such as alexithymia and non assertiveness. The general purpose of this study is to evaluate both types of tobacco dependence (physiological and behavioural), assertiveness and alexithymia, as well as the relation established between them in 30 male patients hospitalized with myocardial infarction. The Fagerström Test, the Glover-Nilsson Questionnaire, the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and TAS-20 were used. The results point out that alexithymia is related with behavioural dependence and assertiveness, which suggest that cigarette smoking is used by the subjects as a coping mechanism, due to their difficulties in expressing emotions assertively, regulating negative affects and dealing properly with stressful events. Social skills and emotional regulation should be emphasized in psychological interventions for smoking cessation with cardiac patients.Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
The Editorial Board authorizes free access to and distribution of published contentes, provided that the source is cited, that is, granding credit to the authors and Paidéia and preserving the full text. The author is allowed to place the final version (postprint / editor’s PDF) in an institutional/thematic repositor or personal page (site, blog), immediately after publication, provided that it is available for open access and comes without any embargo period. Full reference should be made to the first publication in Paidéia. Access to the paper should at least be aligned with the access the journal offers.
As a legal entity, the University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto School of Philosophy, Sciences and Languages owns and holds the copyright deriving from the publication. To use the papers, Paidéia adopts the Creative Commons Licence, CC BY-NC non-commercial attribution. This licence permits access, download, print, share, reuse and distribution of papers, provided that this is for non-commercial use and that the source is cited, giving due authorship credit to Paidéia. In these cases, neither authors nor editors need any permission.
When deriving from research involving human beings, manuscripts need IRB approval, in compliance with the guidelines and standards of the Brazilian National Health Council Resolution 196/96 – Ministry of Health. Authors should attach the digital copy of the IRB declaration of approval, according to instructions displayed further ahead.