Author: Conboy L1,2, Krol J3, Tomas J, Yeh GY4,5, Wayne P5, Salmoirago-Blotcher E3
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA lisaconboy@gmail.com.
<sup>2</sup>New England School of Acupuncture, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
<sup>3</sup>Miriam Hospital, Brown University Warren Alpert Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
<sup>4</sup>Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
<sup>5</sup>Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Conference/Journal: BMJ Support Palliat Care.
Date published: 2019 Apr 4
Other:
Pages: bmjspcare-2018-001685 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2018-001685. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 219
OBJECTIVES: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programmes are standard of care for patients following a coronary event. While such exercise-based secondary prevention programme do offer benefits, they are used by less than 30% of eligible patients and attrition within these programmes is high. This project is a nested qualitative assessment of a pilot programme considering Tai Chi (TC) as an alternative to CR. We hypothesised that TC may overcome several key barriers to CR.
METHODS: A semistructured focus group agenda was used to assess three key domains of feasibility: (1) patients' experiences, (2) reasons/barriers for not having attended CR and (3) any improvements in physical activity and other secondary outcomes (quality of life, weight, sleep). A thematic analysis was used to better understand the key concepts.
RESULTS: This high-risk group of patients reported that they enjoyed TC exercise, and felt confident and safe doing it. TC practice was reported to support other types of physical activity allowing for a generalisation of positive effects.
DISCUSSION: This analysis is consistent with published reports of TC practice improving mood and psychological well-being. Qualitative methods allowed us to find emergent experiential reports of behaviour change factors found in established behaviour change theories.
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
KEYWORDS: cardiac rehabilitation; integrative medicine; rehabilitation
PMID: 30948446 DOI: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2018-001685