Brief psychological intervention in phase I of cardiac rehabilitation after acute coronary syndrome

Abstract

These results indicate that a brief psychological intervention program delivered during hospitalization for ACS and combined with standard medical care can have positive effects in terms of psychosocial outcomes that have proven impact on cardiac rehabilitation and prognosis.

Relationships between Psychoeducational Rehabilitation and Health Outcomes—A Systematic Review Focused on Acute Coronary Syndrome

“…Out of the 11 studies, six were single-sited: Italy [ 31 , 44 ], Portugal [ 33 ], USA [ 35 ], Iran [ 36 ], and Finland [ 40 ] and five took place in multiple centers [ 32 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 45 ]. A total of 3090 patients with AMI were included in the selected randomized controlled trials.…”

“…The mean age for all the people in the included studies was over 50 years old, with one exception that classified the age as fewer than 60 years and 60–75 years old, without including the mean value [ 40 ]; no study specified how many patients were young, how many middle-aged, and how many elderly at the time of diagnosis of ACS. Regarding the intervention, seven studies used conventional techniques [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 38 , 44 , 45 ], one study used the telephone [ 35 ], one used an online portal [ 37 ], and two studies used a hybrid telephone-based and in-hospital method [ 39 , 40 ] as a means of delivering psychotherapy. Only one study of those that had been set up in a hospital was conducted on an outpatient basis [ 45 ], the other six involving continuous hospitalization.…”

“…The differences in patient characteristic variables between the intervention and control groups were tested with chi-square tests [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], t -tests [ 31 , 33 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], paired t -tests [ 37 ], or Fisher’s test [ 36 , 39 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Repeated measures analysis of variance with a heterogeneous compound symmetry covariance structure was used to test the differences in the changes between the groups, applying Mann–Whitney U tests [ 38 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…The details of the intervention studied by each trial are summarized in Table 2 . Some psychotherapies were built around the strategy of controlling the perception of an event such as mental fitness [ 31 ] and a mindfulness training program [ 36 ], and others around solving problems [ 32 ], while most psychological interventions consisted of multiple components: education, promoting adaptive coping, and cognitive behavioral strategies [ 33 , 37 , 44 ]. Among the studies included were interventions based on motivational interviewing techniques in the presence of positive psychology [ 35 ] or in its absence [ 38 , 39 , 45 ].…”

“…Only one study looked at interpersonal counseling in patients with MI [ 40 ]. Only two trials studied group psychological sessions [ 31 , 45 ], and most followed the effects of individual sessions [ 32 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. A single trial administered both individual and group sessions [ 44 ].…”