Participants’ Perspectives of a Primary Exercise-Based Prevention Program for Cardiac Patients: A Prepost Intervention Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

Perseverance in exercise-based, cardiovascular disease prevention programs is generally very low. The purpose of this case study is to understand the experience of participants enrolled in a 6-month primary and secondary exercise-focused, cardiovascular disease prevention out of hospital program. Ten participants were interviewed about their experiences at entry and after it ended 6 months later to understand the facilitators and difficulties encountered by participants in such exercise programs. Four out of ten participants completed the 6-month program. The six participants who left the program accepted to contribute to the postprogram interview. The results showed that the four participants who persevered in the program became aware of cardiac risk factors and their conditions were willing to make changes in their lifestyles to reach their objectives, felt a strong perception of self-efficacy, and felt like they belonged in the program. Both persevering and nonpersevering participants experienced many episodes of discouragement during the program and faced many barriers that interfered with their progress. Suggestions to help coping with these barriers while reinforcing self-efficacy and the sentiment of belonging are discussed.

The roles of the dietitian in an 18-week telephone and mobile application nutrition intervention for upper gastrointestinal cancer: a qualitative analysis

“…Case study analysis is an indepth exploration of a phenomenon within a real-world situation [17,20]. The 'case' for this study is the intervention, an approach that has been used previously [21][22][23]. This methodology was selected to allow an in-depth analysis of the patient-dietitian experience of the intervention whereby its boundaries included the dietitian, the patient, the frequency and duration of communication, and the tool for communication (i.e., a telephone or a mobile application).…”