PURPOSE
According to Lazarus & Folkman (1984), appraising a stressor as a threat is associated with negative psychological and physical adjustment, whereas appraising a stressor as a challenge is positive psychological and physical adjustment. This study examined how cognitive appraisal of PTCA(heart disease threat and treatment appraisal) related to the cardiac risk reduction behaviors(smoking cessation, low salt and low cholesterol diet, regular exercise and stress management) 6 weeks following discharge. METHOD: Data were collected from 50 subjects with successful primary PTCA. RESULT: Heart disease threat was negative related to treatment appraisal (r=-0.240, p=0.046). Psychological well-being was negative related to heart disease threat (r=-0.317, p=0.012) and positive related to treatment appraisal(r=0.402, p=0.002). The cardiac risk reduction behaviors score was negative related to heart disease threat(r= -0.296, p=0.018) and positive related to treatment appraisal(r=-0.291, p=0.020). CONCLUSION: More negative appraisal was related to lower the cardiac risk reduction behaviors score. But more positive appraisal was related to higher the cardiac risk reduction behaviors score. So, there is a need to develop the cognitive-behavioral intevention that increase the coping strategy to replace with positive appraisal.

PURPOSE
The objectives for this study were to identify the factors that correlate with appraisal of illness and to explore what variables are predictive of cancer patients primary caregivers' cognitive appraisal for stress.
METHOD
The subjects were selected by convenient sampling and 130 caregivers who completed a questionnaire. Measures used in this study included the Family Inventory of Resources for Management, Social Support Index, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales and Family Coping Coherence Index. Pearson correlation was used to identify the relationship among factors and multiple regression was used to determine the individual and cumulative effect of potential predictors on the caregivers' appraisal.
RESULTS
Patient's level of activity, severity of the disease, quality of relation between patient and caregiver, caregiver's subjective health status, economic status, family resources and coping were significantly correlated. Among the variables, coping, family resources, economic status and quality of relation between caregiver and patient predicted 49.2 percent of the variance in appraisal of caregivers' stress condition.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that coping mechanisms and family resources are important for positive appraisal. Nurses should provide adequate nursing care for the primary caregiver about professional care information and supportive counseling.