[Strategy in the care of cardiac surgical patients: evaluation of the sense of coherence].

Sense of coherence is the construct proposed by Antonovsky to assess individuals' capacity of dealing with stress. This study aimed to measure the sense of coherence and evaluate its association to sociodemographic variables and the use of psychotropic drugs among 127 patients in the preoperative period of cardiac surgeries. The mean value of sense of coherence was 149.6 (S.D. = 24.6), ranging from 98 to 191 (possible range was 21 to 203), with higher values indicating higher sense of coherence. Higher values were observed among male patients, older than 60 years, married and who did not use psychotropic drugs. Statistically significant differences occurred only for gender and use of psychotropic drugs. Results suggest that female and young patients need more attention from nurses in the planning of their perioperative care.