Quality of life after participation in a rural phase II cardiac rehabilitation program

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of a cardiac rehabilitation program (phase II) in improving participants' quality of life (QOL). Existing data collected previously by a not-for-profit rural community hospital using the SF-36 tool were analyzed. The secondary data consisted of precardiac and post-cardiac rehabilitation SF-36 scores for 121 phase II participants. All the 8 subscale post scores of the SF-36 were higher when compared to the pre-rehabilitation scores. In this non-controlled trial, results suggest that participation in rural cardiac rehabilitation programs may improve patients' perceptions of QOL and health.