Life after a cardiac event: women's experience in healing

To describe the experience of women's recovery after an acute cardiac event.

Grounded theory provided the methodologic basis for qualitative data generation and analysis.

Thirteen women who had experienced an acute cardiac event. The participants' ages ranged from 42 to 78 with a mean age of 58 years. Four participants attended the group sessions after experiencing an acute myocardial infarction; five had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting; and two had undergone percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Two participants had undergone exercise testing that indicated myocardial ischemia. The time after the cardiac event ranged from 8 weeks to 3 years at the initiation of the study, with a mean time after the cardiac event of 8 months.

Healing, the basic social process identified from the data, explained women's struggle through the uncertainty surrounding the cardiac event as a way of creating new and positive health patterns. The process of healing consisted of three stages: surviving, originating, and patterning balance. These stages of healing illustrated determinants of individual motivation that guided the initiation and maintenance of risk factor modification efforts in women after the cardiac event.

Results of this study provide a basis for the development and evaluation of comprehensive rehabilitative interventions designed to enhance individual recovery after a cardiac event.