Mediators of The Relationship between Distress and Cardiac Rehab
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Mediating the Relationship Between Psychological Distress and Cardiac Rehabilitation Engagement: The Role of Experiential Avoidance and Self-Efficacy
IRAS ID
337572
Contact name
Sebastian Francis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leicester
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 26 days
Research summary
Research Summary
We know that many people that are referred for cardiac rehabilitation find it difficult to complete the programme for a variety of different reasons. One of the reasons can be that some people find it frightening or upsetting to do the exercise or to think about their health difficulties. In order to know what support might be helpful for people, we are completing some questionnaires to see if people struggle to engage because they aren’t confident that they can do it (self-efficacy), or because they find the emotional and physical experience difficult to cope with (experiential avoidance). Once the questionnaires are complete, we will record how many sessions participants attend and see if there whether self-efficacy or experiential avoidance is more linked to how easy people find it to engage.
Lay summary of study results: Thank you to study participants
RE: Mediating the Relationship Between Psychological Distress and Cardiac Rehabilitation Engagement: The Role of Experiential Avoidance and Self-Efficacy This piece of research was carried out by researchers at the University of Leicester and at the University Hospitals Leicester. The funding was provided by the University of Leicester’s Doctorate in Clinical Psychology course.
This study looked at why some people complete cardiac rehabilitation (a programme that helps recovery after heart problems) and others do not.
After a heart event, many people experience difficult emotions, including anxiety, low mood, and worries about their health. This study wanted to understand whether this distress affects whether people finish their rehabilitation programme. It also looked at two related factors:
- Experiential avoidance: when people try to avoid difficult thoughts or feelings
- Self-efficacy: how confident people feel about managing their health The researchers expected that distress might lead to more avoidance and lower confidence, which in turn might make people less likely to complete rehabilitation.
To test this, people attending cardiac rehabilitation completed questionnaires measuring distress, avoidance, and confidence. Their rehabilitation completion was also recorded.
What the study found
- There was no clear link between distress, avoidance, confidence, and whether people completed rehabilitation.
- Because of this, the planned analysis (to see if avoidance or confidence explained the link) could not be carried out.
- However, the study did find that:
- People with higher distress tended to have more avoidance
- People with higher distress tended to have lower confidence
- Nearly half of the participants reported high levels of distress and avoidance.
- The study group had higher completion rates than expected, which may explain why no link was found.
What this means
Even though distress did not appear to affect completion in this study, it was still very common among participants. This suggests that people in cardiac rehabilitation may benefit from more psychological support, even if they are attending regularly.
The findings also suggest that services may want to:
- Review how they identify distress in patients
- Consider what support is offered to people experiencing emotional difficulties Why this study is important This is the first study to show that cardiac distress is linked to both avoidance and confidence in this group of patients. It highlights that emotional difficulties are common, even among people who are successfully engaging with treatment, and should not be overlooked.REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/NW/0327
Date of REC Opinion
7 Nov 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion