Awardees Katrina Riggin at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, and Melissa Franks and Elizabeth Richards at Purdue University recently completed their Trailblazer Award-funded project looking into how female patients and their care partners work together after the patients’ participation in cardiac rehabilitation. The goal of the project was to better understand the role care partners play in helping women manage heart disease and how involved they are in activities like exercise, diet, and medical visits.
In the study, participants were asked to name the people most involved in managing their heart disease, whether it was a spouse, adult child, sibling, or even a friend, and to answer questions about the disease management activities they were involved in. As part of the study, participants also wore devices to track their physical activity, which helped researchers understand how active patients were during a one-week study period following the rehabilitation process.
The study found that there wasn’t a big difference between spouses and other care partners (like adult children or friends) when it came to helping with health-related tasks. These care partners helped with everything from encouraging healthy eating to attending doctor’s appointments. The study also highlighted how important it is for women to have someone close to them who can help them to manage their heart health.
The investigators worked closely with an IU Health cardiac rehab center during the study and found it to be a highly rewarding experience to work with IU Health professionals experienced in cardiac rehabilitation. Investigators have submitted presentations and publications to disseminate the results of the study, and thanks to the success of this pilot, the study team is planning to submit an R01 grant proposal. This study is just the beginning of a larger effort to explore the best way to help women with heart disease live healthier lives.
