[Evaluation of physician-accompanied vacation trips for heart patients ("heart vacation trips"). Participants' satisfaction and long term impact on health related quality of life]

Abstract

Physician-accompanied vacation trips for heart patients (so-called "heart vacations trips") have been offered since 1981 and have been regulated by guidelines by the German Society of Prevention and Rehabilitation of Cardiovascular Diseases since 1993. The goal of this evaluation is to assess the satisfaction of the participants and to analyze the long-term impact on health-related quality of life. Between October 1995 and May 1998, 22 vacation trips with 228 participants were evaluated. Satisfaction with the vacation trips was assessed by a questionnaire specifically designed for this study. Health-related quality of life was measured with 5 discrete scales from the standardized and validated instrument "Profile of Quality of Life for the Chronically Ill" ("physical capacity", "ability to enjoy and relax", "positive mood", "absence of negative mood", "sociability"). The proportion of satisfied or very satisfied participants ranged from 81 % (accommodations) to 94 % (physician care). Regarding health-related quality of life, significant or borderline significant improvements were observed on three of the five scales (ability to enjoy and relax: p = 0.02, positive mood: p = 0.001, physical capacity: p = 0.08). Stratified analyses showed improvements for younger participants (< or = 70 years) on all five quality of life scales, whereas no statistically significant improvement was found for older participants. Participants who had a cardiovascular disease other than coronary heart disease showed significant improvements on four scales, whereas participants with coronary heart disease only showed an increase on the scale "positive mood". This evaluation shows that physician-accompanied vacation trips were assessed very positively by the participants and that these trips are associated with long-term improvement in health-related quality of life for specific groups of participants.