Community based cardiac rehabilitation quantitative study

Abstract The aim of this study was to explore patients’ views of the cardiac rehabilitation programme currently available within an East Midlands NHS trust. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six participants who had completed the hospital based cardiac rehabilitation programme. These interviews were recorded, transcribed and the findings were arranged into key themes. The findings of this study were that participants viewed their health as important and felt that cardiac rehabilitation played a significant role in helping them get back on their feet after their cardiac event. Families were found to play a major part in providing motivation and support for participants after their cardiac event, and family involvement in cardiac rehabilitation was also held to be important. All participants made lifestyle changes after their cardiac event and felt supported in doing so by the cardiac rehabilitation programme. They were generally happy with the service being provided, but they were able to make some suggestions for local service improvement