Impact of selected factors on the level of disease acceptance in patients with peripheral artery disease

Introduction
Assessment of the impact of selected factors on the level of disease acceptance in patients with chronic lower limb ischaemia.

Material and methods
The research material consisted of 72 patients (24 women and 48 men) with peripheral artery disease at the Cardiac Surgery and Vascular Surgery Clinic of the University Clinical Centre in Gdańsk from March to May 2018. The research method was a diagnostic survey using the acceptance of illness scale (AIS). The diagnostic survey method using the AIS by Felton, Revensson, and Hinrichsen from the Center for Community Research and Action, Department of Psychology, New York University (with adaptation to the Polish conditions of Juczyński) was used. A survey of my own authorship was used to collect socio-demographic data. All statistical calculations were carried out using the IBM SPSS 23 statistical package and Excel 2013 spreadsheet. P < 0.05 was used as the significance level for all calculations.

Results
Patients with higher education presented a higher level of acceptance of the disease. The lowest level of disease acceptance was demonstrated by patients with the greatest reduction of mobility.

Conclusions
The general indicator of the sense of acceptance of the disease in the studied group of patients was at an average level. Patient’s education and mobility had a significant impact on the level of disease acceptance. Further research should be undertaken to assess the level of disease acceptance in patients with peripheral artery disease, which will improve education, prevention, and treatment.