Evaluation of a holistic cardiac rehabilitation in the reduction of biopsychosocial risk factors among patients with coronary heart disease.

The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Lifestyle Change Program (LSCP). LSCP was a holistic cardiac rehabilitation (CR) intervention focusing on several psychosocial and biological predictors of coronary heart disease including depression, hostility, low social support, high perceived stress, low spirituality, low life satisfaction, overall health status and cholesterol levels. Utilising a quasi-experimental design, overall health scores of LSCP patients were compared with those of a control group. To assess differences within-and between- groups, two (programme type) × 2 (age) × 2 (gender) × 2 (time) mixed design ANOVAs were used. Within-group relationships for psychosocial assessments and cholesterol levels were analysed using paired-samples t-tests. Results suggest that there were no significant differences between the LSCP group and the control group with regard to overall health status. However, the LSCP participants reported significantly lower levels of depression and perceived stress, as well as significantly higher levels of life satisfaction and spirituality upon programme completion. In addition, lipid panels changed significantly: A significant decrease in total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins and triglycerides, as well as a significant increase in high-density lipoproteins. These trends suggest that holistic CR may be effective at reducing biopsychosocial risk factors for future cardiac events. Future studies, utilising an experimental design, are necessary to determine whether holistic programmes are more effective than traditional programmes in the reduction of cardiac risk factors.