Health-promoting lifestyle and life satisfaction in full-time employed adults with congenital heart disease: grit as a mediator

Aims: Enhancing life satisfaction is vital for adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD). Life satisfaction potentially correlates with a health-promoting lifestyle and grit. However, the mediating role of grit - a trait marked by perseverance and long-term goal-oriented passion - between a health-promoting lifestyle and life satisfaction in ACHD remains unverified. This study aimed to examine the relationships between health-promoting lifestyle, grit, and life satisfaction in full-time employed ACHD and to confirm the mediating role of grit. Methods and results: A total of 181 full-time employed ACHD aged 20-59 years with patient-reported New York Heart Association classes I-IV were recruited from two medical centres in northern Taiwan. Participants completed questionnaires, including the short version of the Chinese Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile Scale, Grit-10 Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale between February and December 2022. Data analysis employed the Hayes PROCESS macro. Health-promoting lifestyle, grit, and life satisfaction were discovered to be positively correlated. Overall grit score was a partial mediator between a health-promoting lifestyle and life satisfaction, accounting for 20% of the total variation. Of the grit domains, perseverance served as a partial mediator between a health-promoting lifestyle and life satisfaction, accounting for 32% of the total variation, whereas passion had a nonsignificant mediation effect. Conclusion: A health-promoting lifestyle boosts ACHD individuals' life satisfaction through grit, particularly perseverance. Integrating grit into such a lifestyle could benefit from comprehending support systems and influential factors aiding grit development for enhanced life satisfaction.