| Summary: | Background
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of premature deaths and contributes substantially on escalating healthcare costs (WHO, 2008a). Myocardial Infarctions (MI’s) are the most common presentation of the compromised cardiovascular system making them England’s number one source of death (Office for National Statistics, 2011). One of the largest interventions proposed to tackle this health issue was a ten year action plan in the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease, launched in 2000. Amongst many well documented successes was one failure to meet standards set out and this was that the uptake rates of cardiac rehabilitation which were on average 41% (The National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation, 2010). This study aims to qualitatively investigate why a seemingly valuable service has been declined by so many.
Method
Both consulting existing literature surrounding the MI patient’s viewpoint and reasons for up taking or declining cardiac rehabilitation and conducting semi structured interviews with seven male post MI patients.
Results
An analysing the data from the interviews a multitude of themes were founded. A summary of these are as follows: the males experiencing a range of negative emotions post MI; pre and post retiring males facing different challenges; preretirement males stating they feel ok and want to start back at work; statements of the difference between the ability to acknowledge suffering a heart attack and being able to accept it; stating they can make healthier changes in their lifestyle choice but without attending rehabilitation classes; voicing a range of factors that made attending the rehabilitation venues impractical. On combining these themes with the surrounding evidence base, several suggestions for future practice emerged.
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