THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HEALTHY LIFESTYLE BEHAVIORS, HOPELESSNESS AND ILLNESS ACCEPTANCE LEVELS DIAGNOSED WITH PERIPHERAL ARTERIAL DISEASE AND RELATED FACTORS.

Background: Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) is a chronic condition that requires prolonged and consistent management. Failure to recognize the necessity for prolonged treatment and care may result in a lack of acceptance of the disease, feelings of hopelessness and a lack of emphasis on healthy living, which can lead to an unmanageable disease, serious complications, increased care costs, elevated mortality and morbidity rates. The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between healthy lifestyle behaviors, hopelessness and illness acceptance levels among individuals diagnosed with lower extremity PAD and related factors.

Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted with 87 patients diagnosed with lower extremity PAD who were hospitalized for a surgical procedure in the cardiovascular surgery clinic of a university hospital. The data were collected using the Patient Information Form, the Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale (HLBS)-II, the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) and the Illness Acceptance Scale (IAS). The analysis was conducted using the IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 25 (IBM Corp., New York, NY).

Results: The mean total scores from HLBS, BHS and IAS for the patients were found to be 124.17, 12.57 and 24.40, respectively. Patients with a secondary or higher education level who also had a family history of cardiovascular disease exhibited higher scores on the HLBS. Conversely, patients whose family situations and social lives were affected by the disease demonstrated lower scores on the IAS. Patients who evaluated their physical and mental health as good exhibited higher scores on the IAS. Patients with a primary school or lower education who also lacked social support related to the disease processes demonstrated higher scores on the BHS. A weak negative correlation was identified between hopelessness and the level of illness acceptance.

Conclusions: This study highlights that the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors and the acceptance of the disease among patients diagnosed with PAD remain suboptimal. In addition, the study reveals that the level of hopelessness among these patients is significantly elevated. It can be inferred that there is a strong correlation between the level of hopelessness and the acceptance of the disease. The findings of this study may inform the design of awareness training programs for the management of the disease, the development of healthy lifestyle behaviors, and the enhancement of illness acceptance and hopelessness levels among individuals diagnosed with PAD in Turkey.