Open AccessMotivating Patients in Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial
Author(s) -
Helle Spindler,
Malene Hollingdal,
Jens Refsgaard,
Birthe Dinesen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of telerehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.273
H-Index - 3
ISSN - 1945-2020
DOI - 10.5195/ijt.2021.6365
Subject(s) - telerehabilitation , rehabilitation , anxiety , distress , physical therapy , randomized controlled trial , psychological distress , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychology , depression (economics) , hospital anxiety and depression scale , telemedicine , medicine , clinical psychology , psychiatry , health care , surgery , economics , macroeconomics , economic growth
Concerns have been raised about motivation and psychological distress when implementing telerehabilitation in patients with heart failure. The current study compared conventional and telerehabilitation in two groups (n=67; n=70) of patients with heart failure at 0, 6, and 12 months on measures of motivation (Self-Determination Theory measures) and psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale). We found no significant changes in motivation across groups, although our telerehabilitation group had a slightly lower level of controlled motivation and higher levels of relatedness. In addition, there were no differences between groups with regard to psychological distress. This study demonstrates that telerehabilitation motivates patients with heart failure to the same degree as conventional rehabilitation, and that telerehabilitation is not associated with increased psychological distress. As such, telerehabilitation offers an alternative to conventional rehabilitation and addresses some of the barriers for participating in rehabilitation identified in the literature.