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

Objective: To describe the experience of women's recovery after an acute cardiac event. Design: Grounded theory provided the methodologic basis for qualitative data generation and analysis. Sample: 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 initation of the study, with a mean time after the cardiac event of 8 months. Results: 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. Conclusions: 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.