Psychosocial experiences in the context of life-threatening illness: the cardiac rehabilitation patient.

OBJECTIVE One of the most prevalent life-threatening illnesses is heart disease. The initial trauma of being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or having a cardiac event can begin a psychosocial chain reaction that results in a transformation of the lives of these patients. The goal of our study was to investigate the lived experiences of psychosocial healing in rehabilitation of cardiac patients using a qualitative written interview. METHOD A purposive sample of 14 cardiac event survivors was recruited. Participants were interviewed after informed consent and screening. We used a qualitative analysis and model-revision approach similar to the procedure outlined by Charmaz (2006). RESULTS Participants consistently mentioned that a heightened awareness of mortality was a motivating factor that led to participants focusing more on their family and relationships, having an enhanced outlook on life, and making healthy lifestyle changes. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS If clinicians are able to employ a measure to better understand the nature of a patient's progression from cardiac event to successful recovery, interventions such as cardiac rehabilitation can be implemented earlier and more effectively during the course of the illness and recovery phases of treatment. Theoretically, this early detection of a patient's progression could reduce the time spent recovering from a cardiac event, and it would allow treatments for these conditions to better alleviate the psychosocial concerns faced by patients.