[Effectiveness of psychological intervention in cardiac rehabilitation]

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the results of the cognitive-behavioral intervention in the patients beneficiaries of the multidisciplinary Cardiac Rehabilitation program of the Hospital General Universitario de Elche (Spain).

Material and method: A sample that included 33 patients who had suffered an acute myocardial infarction or who suffer from unstable angina pectoris. These patients were referred from the Cardiology Department for inclusion in the Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation Program during the period from September 2014 to October 2015. All the patients were evaluated using a battery of pre- and post- treatment questionnaires.

Results: The results showed a statistically significant decrease in a large part of the risk factors after the intervention, such as anxiety (P < .001, d = 0.38), depression (P < .005, d = 0.25) and anger (P < .005, d = 0.35).

Conclusions: This study provides new evidence of the effectiveness of psychological intervention in cardiac rehabilitation.

Keywords: Cardiac rehabilitation; Cognitive-behaviour therapy; Factores de riesgo; Intervención cognitivo-conductual; Intervención psicológica; Psychological intervention; Rehabilitación cardíaca; Risk factors.