Positive Outcomes in Cardiac Rehabilitation: The Little Program That Could

Permission to include article in the University of Lethbridge Institutional Repository granted by the Canadian Council of Cardiovascular Nurses (CCCN).Cardiac rehabilitation programs (CRPs) are receiving increasing attention because they restore, maintain, or improve both physiologic and psychosocial client outcomes (Evenson, Rosamond & Luepker, 1998). However, less attention has been paid to the effect such programs may have on the health-related quality of life of participants. The objective of this study was to measure health-related quality of life outcomes before and after participation in a CRP. Participants were 64 clients entering one of five CRP groups at the Lethbridge Regional Hospital in southern Alberta. Participants completed the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) (Ware, 1997) both at the beginning and at the end of one 13-week CRP intervention. The SF-36 examines eight health concepts: physical functioning (PF), role-physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), role-emotional (RE), and mental health (MH). Analysis showed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores for six of the eight categories. Larger effect sizes were found for PF (d=.746), RP (d=657), and VT (d=.593). Smaller effects were found for BP (d=.299j, SF (d=.337J, and RE (d=.271). The findings of this study highlight improved health-related quality of life outcomes for clients participating in comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation programs