[Evaluation of the effectiveness of an ambulatory after-care rehabilitation program]

Effects of an outpatient cardiological rehabilitation programme that is offered to patients following their inpatient treatment in a rehab clinic are measured and compared with the data collected from an untreated group. The study group consists of 155 cardiological patients (after heart attack, bypass operation and heart-valve prosthesis) in the treatment group as well as 136 in the non-treatment group. The outpatient programme takes place twice a week in a cardiological rehab clinic, with patients participating for a maximum period of twelve weeks. Data are collected at the beginning, the end and three months after the end of the programme from the treatment group resp. twice with a six months interval from the non-treatment group. The used outcome measures are a number of medical variables (e.g. stress ECG, BMI, blood pressure), variables concerning vocational reintegration, plus a questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of a Functional Limitation Scale, a Mood Check List, a "Health Locus of Control"-Scale as well as a number of items regarding health-related behaviour and heart complaint symptoms. The project duration was 36 months, starting in June 1993. The funding source is the "Landesversicherungsanstalt Westfalen", a regional division of the German Statutory Old Age Insurance. As data concerning vocational reintegration indicate, the programme can be a meaningful complement to a larger amount of reintegrated patients (66.9%) compared to the non-treatment group (50.2%). To estimate the long-term effects of the programme, a 24-month-follow-up was started in January 1996.