Psychology, 2018, 9, 2591-2607 http://www.scirp.org/journal/psych ISSN Online: 2152-7199 ISSN Print: 2152-7180 DOI: 10.4236/psych.2018.911148 Oct. 31, 2018 2591 Psychology Modification of the Coping and the Emotional Comorbidity in Patients Candidates to Cardiac Surgery Carlos Figueroa-López 1 , Daniela Méndez-Rodríguez 1 , Yesenia Sharai Robledo-Martínez 1 , Bertha Ramos-Del Río 1 , Ana Karen Talavera-Peña 1 , Carlos Riera-Kinkel 2* 1 Psychology Faculty, FES Zaragoza UNAM, México 2 Division Cardiothoracic Surgery, Hospital de Cardiología, Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Mexico City, Mexico Abstract Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a program of psychological prepa- ration for invasive procedures in patients with heart disease, candidates for cardiac surgery, to reduce emotional morbidity and improve perception of health related quality of life. Methods: A Quasi-experimental design was used. The study included a non-probabilistic randomized sample of 110 pa- tients treated in the Division of Cardiac Surgery Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social IMSS. They were divided in two groups: Experimental group (n = 44) and Control group (n = 66). In- struments: CHIP Coping Questionnaire, HADS Anxiety and Depression Hospital Scale, Health Related Quality of Life Questionnaire and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to measure postoperative pain. Results: The experi- mental group showed an increase in instrumental coping style compared to pre (M = 24.55) and post evaluation (M = 25.93); statistically significant dif- ferences were found in the variables of stress (p = 0.042), anxiety (p = 0.001), depression (p = 0.056) and health related quality of life (p = 0.000); while in the control group, the distraction coping style (pre M = 25.80, post M = 26.73) is the one that increased; there were no statistically significant differ- ences in the variables stress (p = 0.274), anxiety (p = 0.671) and depression (p = 0.850), except for the health related quality of life (p = 0.000). This study is the first in Mexico to manage emotional comorbidity in this type of popula- tion. Keywords Coping, Emotional Comorbidity, Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Heart Disease How to cite this paper: Figueroa-López, C., Méndez-Rodríguez, D., Robledo-Martínez, Y. S., Ramos-Del Río, B., Talavera-Peña, A. K., & Riera-Kinkel, C. (2018). Modification of the Coping and the Emotional Comor- bidity in Patients Candidates to Cardiac Surgery. Psychology, 9, 2591-2607. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2018.911148 Received: September 27, 2018 Accepted: October 26, 2018 Published: October 31, 2018 Copyright © 2018 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access