Cardiac rehabilitation and psychological well-being

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to address psychological issues associated with effective multidimensional cardiac rehabilitation programmes. Cardiac rehabilitation is defined as: “the sum of activities required to influence favourably the underlying cause of the disease, as well as the best possible, physical, mental and social conditions, so that they (people) may, by their own efforts preserve or resume when lost, as normal a place as possible in the community. Rehabilitation cannot be regarded as an isolated form or stage of therapy but must be integrated within secondary prevention services of which it forms only one facet” (World Health Organisation, 1993). The chapter will: discuss the impact of CHD in the UK, provide an overview of the Government strategy for reducing the burden of cardiac disease and disability, and review quantitative evidence discussing the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation on the mental health and well-being of cardiac patients, with particular reference to anxiety and depression states. The final part of this chapter presents results of a qualitative study, previously reported in Hudson, Board, and, Lavallee (2001) that examined the psychosocial impact of cardiac disease and rehabilitation for patients attending one cardiac rehabilitation scheme in England.