Influences on women's completion of a cardiac rehabilitation programme

Aims: This article describes a study investigating patient and programme factors influencing women's completion of a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programme. Methods: A qualitative cross-sectional design was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five women who had completed and five women who did not complete the CR programme. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted on the reviews; both individually and within the two groups (‘completers’ and ‘non-completers’). This entire process was also undertaken by a second researcher, and led to the emergence of a list of both individual themes and master themes for each group. Findings: Positive influences on completion included a correct medical understanding, successful behavioural changes in terms of lifestyle control, approach-focused coping, addressing support needs and positive recognition for the role of CR. Negative influences on completion included incorrect medical understanding, limited lifestyle changes, emotion focused coping, high degree of concern on the impact of significant others and lack of perceived consistent value of CR. Conclusions: In order to improve completion rates for CR programmes among women with heart disease, it is important to clarify their initial medical understanding and beliefs, and to continually reassess their perceptions during programme delivery. Incorporating individual support, flexibility, and bespoke programmes for different age groups may enhance attendance at cardiac rehabilitation programmes.