Financial, family, and social factors impacting on cardiac rehabilitation attendance

BACKGROUND: Attendance in phase 2 cardiac rehabilitation program after acute myocardial infarction is poor. OBJECTIVE: To identify and explore the demographic factors that influence peoples' decisions to attend cardiac rehabilitation programs. METHODS: A descriptive-interpretive design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 people post infarction in Victoria, Australia after their first scheduled appointment to attend outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. The interview transcripts were thematically analysed. RESULTS: The perceived relevance of cardiac rehabilitation related to the context of people's lives, namely their financial, family and social situation, and how important program outcomes were seen to be relevant to this context. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that there are a proportion of people unlikely to attend outpatient cardiac rehabilitation programs following an AMI despite encouragement to attend. It may be unrealistic to aim for 100% referral and uptake into cardiac rehabilitation programs and therefore an inappropriate endpoint by which to evaluate such programs.