Key result
Family and social factors heavily influence lifestyle changes in women with IHD and complicate maintenance.
Why the study?
Ischemic heart disease is a major cause of death for women worldwide, necessitating focus on lifestyle changes to reduce disease impact on women's lives.
Qualitative interviews reveal that women with ischemic heart disease face anxiety and rely heavily on family and social support to initiate and maintain lifestyle changes over time.
Family and social factors warrant consideration in counseling women with IHD; leaves open whether targeted interventions improve long-term adherence.
Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a major cause of death for women worldwide, and thus it is important to focus on lifestyle changes to reduce the impact of the disease on women’s everyday lives. Nine women were interviewed using an explorative approach to describe women’s lifestyle changes after being diagnosed with IHD. Three major themes emerged; ‘Heart disease: A life-changing event’, ‘Social life – both inhibiting and promoting lifestyle changes’ and ‘Maintaining changes: An ongoing challenge and a conscious choice’. Ischemic heart disease caused anxiety, and the women strived to find meaning in life after diagnosis. Family had a great impact on the lifestyle changes made and the social aspect of exercise was highlighted as important. Time since onset of disease affected the effort to make lifestyle changes, showing that changes were easier to make immediately after onset but difficult to maintain over time.
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Wagner et al. (2017) studied Ischemic heart disease (n=9). Lifestyle changes was evaluated on Themes describing women's lifestyle changes after being diagnosed with IHD. Qualitative interviews with 9 women with ischemic heart disease revealed that lifestyle changes were heavily influenced by family and social factors, and were difficult to maintain over time.
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