Increasing Adherence to Treatment Recommendations Following a Cardiac Event

This project will pilot test an intervention to increase participation rates in cardiac rehabilitation and medication adherence among patients following a cardiovascular event. The intervention will use an educational video shown during referral to cardiac rehabilitation (before hospital discharge), along with a brief, telephone-delivered counseling session to increase motivation to participate in cardiac rehabilitation and take all cardiac medications as prescribed (following hospital discharge). One hundred twenty patients who have experienced a cardiovascular event, and who are eligible for cardiac rehabilitation, will be recruited to participate in the study. Three groups of participants (40 each) will be formed: a control group that receives standard care, a first experimental group that sees the educational video and receives motivational counseling to attend cardiac rehabilitation, and a second experimental group that receives motivational counseling to adhere to their medications as prescribed. It is expected that the experimental group participants will differ from the control group participants in rates of participation in cardiac rehabilitation (experimental group #1) and medication adherence (experimental group #2). If successful, this intervention could be used in hospital settings to increase patients' adherence behaviors.