(PS8-13) The Fat of the Matter: Investigating the Association Between Relationship Satisfaction and Dietary Fat Intake in a Cardiac Patient Population

While some risk factors for cardiac illness are outside of individual control, health behaviors can have a significant impact on cardiac health. For example, diet is well known to play a crucial role in heart health and risk. Intimate relationships are widely accepted as an effective mechanism by which cardiac patients can implement and maintain health behavior changes (Rapeli et al., 2022). Couples tend to be concordant in dietary habits, typically consuming either similar amounts of heart-healthy foods or less-heart-healthy, high-fat foods (Kiecolt-Glaser & Wilson, 2017). It is also well understood that greater relationship satisfaction leads to better health habits and better health outcomes (Wilson & Novak, 2022). Presently, there is a need for research into the associations between romantic relationship satisfaction and health behaviors, particularly in populations with existing illness, to allow for better development of tailored interventions to establish and maintain behavior change. Given that health habits are concordant between intimate partners, associated with relationship satisfaction, and crucial for risk reduction in cardiac patients, the present study explores the association between relationship satisfaction and dietary fat intake among couples in which one of the partners experienced a recent cardiac event. Data were collected on 80 male-female dyads (Mage = 59.90, SDage = 10.97) as part of a larger study. Fat intake was measured by the Food Habits Questionnaire, and relationship satisfaction was measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Bivariate regression was used to examine whether relationship satisfaction is related to fat intake in patients with heart disease. Results demonstrate that patient relationship satisfaction is associated with patient fat intake [F(1, 79) = 5.23, p = .025] and that partner relationship satisfaction is associated with patient fat intake, [F(1, 79) = 23.164, p < .001], such that greater relationship satisfaction in both cardiac patients and their partners is related to lower dietary fat intake in patients. Findings point to the impact that relationship satisfaction may have on cardiac patients’ success in implementing and maintaining health behavior changes, such as those involving medical recommendations to consume a low-fat diet. The present findings obviate a need for effective couples interventions that target both relationship satisfaction and health behaviors within a cardiac population. It is widely accepted that couples-based therapeutic interventions are more effective for health behavior change than individual interventions alone, and that CBCT approaches can both improve relationship satisfaction and produce health behavior change (Fischer et al., 2016). As such, future clinical and research efforts should consider the development of interventions that aim to improve relationship satisfaction as a way to directly impact cardiac patients’ health outcomes.