The efficacy of stress management among post-myocardial infarction patients

This study examined the effectiveness of a stress management program on physiological variables among male post- myocardial infarction patients at approximately six month follow-up. The sample (N = 35) for this study included post- myocardial infarction (MI) patients who had participated in a program of stress management training during the intermediate care phase of recovery from MI (n = 19) or a patient education control group (n = 16) which received cardiac education training at the Veterans' Administration Medical Center (VAMC), Houston. Research hypotheses proposed that post-MI patients in the stress management group would be significantly different from the cardiac education group at follow-up by showing: 1) less pain, 2) fewer arrhythmias, 3) less in rehospitalization, and, 4) better cardiac status. Results revealed that physiological measures of cardiac status and arrhythmias were valid discriminators (^<.05) as expected. No significant differences between the stress management treatment and the cardiac education control groups were found for the variables of rehospitalization or chest pain.