A comparison of cardiac rehabilitation, social support, and stress management training in coronary artery bypass graft patients
An experiment was conducted to investigate three different treatment strategies in the rehabilitation of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients. Fifteen CABG patients were randomly assigned to one of three training groups: an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation exercise group (which met three times per week for three months); a second group which participated in weekly stress management training for seven weeks in addition to the cardiac rehabilitation exercise sessions; and a third group which participated in a weekly discussion on social support in addition to the exercise sessions. The groups were compared (pre- and post training) on the following physiological dependent measures: systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mean heart rate, cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoproteins, and the cholesterol/high density lipoprotein ratio. Psychological self-report measures included: the Beck Depression Inventory, the Spielberger State/Trait Anxiety Index, the Jenkins Activity Survey, and the Hassles and Uplifts Questionnaire. The Structured Interview was given to each patient prior to training only. It was predicted that the group trained in stress management and exercise would show the most positive changes on physiological and psychological dependent measures compared to the other two groups. The results indicated no significant pre/post differences on any of the variables for any of the groups. Thus, the additional components of stress management training and the social support discussion group did not appear to effect more positive change in those patients compared to those who participated in exercise only. Findings may have been influenced by several factors including a small N in each group and large within group variability. Suggestions for future research are discussed.
Heart Diseases Patients Rehabilitation, Heart Surgery Psychological aspects, Medicine and Health Sciences
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