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A support group created a caring environment where women with heart disease felt understood, supported, and strengthened by peers and nurse facilitators

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QUESTION: From the perspectives of women with heart disease, what is the apparent benefit of a community based communication and psychoeducational support group?

Design

Participatory action research.

Setting

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Participants

16 women (46–76 y) who had experienced a myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in the previous 6 months or angina in the previous year, and who had no physical or mental health disabilities.

Methods

Through a process of discussion, deliberation, and evaluation, participants codesigned a community based communication and psychoeducational support group for themselves that they thought would be beneficial to other women living with heart disease. 2 groups of women (n=9 and n=7) met monthly in 2 hour sessions for 5 months in a local church. A nurse clinician and a nurse researcher jointly facilitated sessions. Women participated in a telephone support …

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Footnotes

  • Source of funding: Hamilton Community Foundation.

  • For correspondence: Dr H Arthur, School of Nursing, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. arthurh{at}mcmaster.ca