A longitudinal qualitative study of 32 patients with coronary heart disease identified 4 overarching trajectories of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional evolution during cardiac rehabilitation.
Observational (n=32)
A patient-centered journey map identifies unmet needs and pain points across the cardiac rehabilitation continuum, providing actionable insights for tailored interventions.
BACKGROUND Cardiac rehabilitation plays a critical role in improving clinical outcomes, however, global participation and adherence remain suboptimal. Existing research often overlooks the dynamic, patient-centered patient experience across the cardiac rehabilitation continuum, hindering holistic care. OBJECTIVE To develop a cardiac rehabilitation journey map capturing the longitudinal experiences, needs, challenges, and emotions of coronary heart disease patients to identify targets for improving experience and care quality. METHODS A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted in mainland China from November 2023 to April 2025. A total of 32 patients with coronary heart disease participated in semi-structured interviews at three timepoints corresponding to each cardiac rehabilitation phase. Interviews explored behaviors, touchpoints, thoughts, emotions, and pain points. Data were analyzed using content analysis and synthesized into a visual journey map with temporal and task dimensions. RESULTS This study generated 36 initial codes, which were organized into 12 subthemes and further synthesized into four overarching, phase-spanning trajectories: (1) behavioral transition from passive adherence to autonomy attempts and then contextual self-management; (2) cognitive shifts from disease-threat dominance to responsibility reorientation and finally illness - life integration; (3) emotional evolution from post-traumatic stress/vulnerability through fluctuating confidence to resilience in isolation; and (4) phase-specific pain points, including multifaceted support gaps (inpatient), an unstable transition system during outpatient rehabilitation, and weakened motivation and limited remote support for sustained home-based rehabilitation. CONCLUSION The cardiac rehabilitation journey map provides a patient-centered new framework for understanding the complex and evolving experiences of patients with coronary heart disease. By identifying unsolved pain points and unmet needs, the journey map provides actionable insights for designing tailored, nurse-led interventions and optimizing service delivery across the entire continuum of cardiac rehabilitation.
Yuan et al. (Wed,) conducted a observational in coronary heart disease (n=32). Cardiac rehabilitation was evaluated on Patient experiences, needs, challenges, and emotions across the cardiac rehabilitation continuum. A longitudinal qualitative study of 32 patients with coronary heart disease identified 4 overarching trajectories of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional evolution during cardiac rehabilitation.