Background:

The literature points to the possibility of carrying out an intervention, from primary prevention to rehabilitation after a cardiac event, towards decreasing the incidence of such cardiac events and facilitating the return to daily life. The objective was to determine the effect of a cardiac rehabilitation intervention over perceived self-efficacy for patients who have suffered a cardiac event.

Methods:

A community clinical trial, open, controlled, and randomised, was designed, and performed in primary care. To determine the sample size, the research team used the General Self-Efficacy Scale by Baessler and Schwarzer. The mean difference between groups considered of clinical relevance was of at least 6 points in the aforementioned General Self-Efficacy Scale. A precision of 95% and a test power of 80% were accepted. The result proposed a sample of 44 subjects in each group. Over 12 months, all subjects of legal age (N=104), both sexes, that had concluded phase II in the cardiac rehabilitation unit of the University Hospital Puerta del Mar (Cadiz) were offered to participate in the study. The patients were informed about the study development, asking for their participation and providing them with a written informed consent. The subjects were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group through blind allocation (in a sealed envelope to the researcher), on a pre-set 2:1 ratio (two patients assigned to the intervention group to one assigned to the control group). A non-response or rejection to participate in the study record was made for the non-response analysis.

Results:

A total of 89 subjects were included in the statistical analysis (response rate of 85.57%), with an average age of 63.01 years (SD: 8.75). The main dependent variable was the scores difference between groups, comparing means before and after the intervention, through the General Self-Efficacy Scale by Baessler & Schwarner. A mean difference of 6.0972 points was obtained between the intervention and the control groups (p<0.0053; 95% CI -4.1950 to -10.29), as a result of a 3.3750 mean points increase (standard deviation: 7.01) in the intervention group and a 3.3750 mean points decrease (standard deviation: 7.19) in the control group. In relation to the possible changes to be detected through the Hamilton anxiety scale and the Beck’s depression inventory, after finishing the intervention, an estimate and contrast of population means was made between groups for the scores difference in the Hamilton scale, determined on the final visit, with no significant differences found (t-student 0.1211; p<0.9 43). Similarly, no significant differences were found between the groups for the means obtained in the variable “Beck’s depression inventory scores difference” (t-student -0.1281; p<0.8987).

Conclusions:

The inclusion in cardiac rehabilitation programmes carried out in primary care improves the general perceived self-efficacy of patients who have suffered cardiac events.

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