Partners' attachment styles and overprotective support as predictors of patient outcomes in cardiac rehabilitation.

Objective: This study investigates whether the adult attachment styles of support partners in a cardiac rehabilitation context predict their use of overprotective support strategies, and whether such overprotection in turn predicts lower self-efficacy and poorer program attendance in cardiac rehabilitation patients.

Research Method: Participants were 69 partner-patient dyads, mostly older adults (mean age = 65 years) in long-term relationships ( = 35 years). During the first week of a 10-week cardiac rehabilitation program in a midsized rural hospital, participants completed self-report questionnaires that were used to assess partners' attachment styles and levels of overprotection, as well as patients' health-related self-efficacy. Attendance at each session of the program was then tracked by cardiac rehabilitation staff members.

Results: A moderated mediation model using bootstrapping showed that when partners were insecurely attached (high in both attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety), a mediational model held, such that more insecure partner attachment predicted more extensive use of overprotective support strategies, which in turn predicted lower patient self-efficacy for exercise and less-frequent program attendance.

Implications: Implications for training support partners in more-effective support strategies are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).