From College of Nursing Annual Report

Faculty Research

Plach Studies Social Factors Affecting Women's Health

By Carolyn Alfvin

SANDRA PLACH PhD, RN, CCRN, Assistant Professor, Director of Nursing Research at Froedtert Hospital

EXPERTISE: Women's social roles in the context of chronic illness (heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS); cardiac disease with particular focus on women; acute/critical care

CURRENT RESEARCH: Anxiety, depression and positive functioning in women with heart failure: can social role experiences make a difference?

Heart disease is the smoking gun in half of all female deaths. What factors contribute to a woman’s recovery from heart surgery and may help prevent another cardiac event?

According to Sandra Plach, who has worked more than 25 years in the field of cardiovascular disease, the quality of a woman’s social roles may be an important factor in her recovery from heart disease or other chronic health conditions. Positive social role experiences somewhat buffer women from the physical effects of their chronic conditions, she says. What’s more, the worse the physical symptoms, the more dramatic the role of good, social role experiences becomes.

“Overall, women with positive social role experiences feel good about themselves, regardless of their symptoms,” Plach says. “The sickest women experience the most gain.”

“A woman who can continue to do the things that matter to her socially -- such as attending a grandson’s baseball game or celebrating holidays with family -- is more likely to have a positive sense of well being, which links back to her physical health,” Plach says. For women with heart disease, for example, maintaining or improving social roles may decrease depression and anxiety, two known risk factors of future cardiac events.

Plach suggests women with chronic health conditions create non-exhausting ways to keep the important activities in their lives. Scale down on the holiday decorations, for example. Ask family and friends to cook half the meal. Lower self-expectations. “You’ll experience the value inherent in the experience at less physical expense to yourself,” Plach says.