Participants’ Perspectives of a Primary Exercise-Based Prevention Program for Cardiac Patients: A Prepost Intervention Qualitative Case Study

Perseverance in exercise-based, cardiovascular disease prevention programs is generally very low. The purpose of this case study isto understand the experience of participants enrolled in a 6-month primary and secondary exercise-focused, cardiovascular diseaseprevention out of hospital program. Ten participants were interviewed about their experiences at entry and after it ended 6 monthslater to understand the facilitators and difficulties encountered by participants in such exercise programs. Four out of tenparticipants completed the 6-month program. The six participants who left the program accepted to contribute to thepostprogram interview. The results showed that the four participants who persevered in the program became aware of cardiacrisk factors and their conditions were willing to make changes in their lifestyles to reach their objectives, felt a strong perceptionof self-efficacy, and felt like they belonged in the program. Both persevering and nonpersevering participants experienced manyepisodes of discouragement during the program and faced many barriers that interfered with their progress. Suggestions to helpcoping with these barriers while reinforcing self-efficacy and the sentiment of belonging are discussed.