Abstract Body: Background: Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally, with approximately 1.5 million patients undergoing cardiac surgery annually. Active participation in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) following cardiac surgery has been linked to a reduction in subsequent cardiovascular events and better survival. Despite these benefits, roughly 25% of patients nationally attend CR. Peer coaching, which involves guidance from individuals with similar experiences, may improve CR participation and has yet to be fully explored. The Peer Coaching for Cardiac Patients (PCCP) pilot program aimed to assess the benefits of peer coaching in improving participation in CR and perioperative anxiety and depression outcomes in cardiac surgery patients.
Methods: This pilot study, conducted from November 2023 to April 2024, enrolled ten patients scheduled for elective cardiac surgery. Participants attended four 60-minute coaching sessions via Zoom, two before and two after surgery, by a coach who had undergone coronary bypass surgery in the past (Figure 1). Patient outcomes were evaluated through CR participation rates, pre- and post-program Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9 scores, and a post-program survey. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were used to analyze results, with p < 0.05 considered significant.
Results: Seven of the ten patients completed the PCCP program. All participants who completed the program went on to attend CR for an average of 19.3 ± 8.70 sessions and 9.57 ± 3.0 weeks. No statistically significant difference in PHQ-9 scores was observed (p=0.341). Participants rated the program highly in its role in anxiety reduction (9.0 ± 1.2) and its likelihood of making them attend CR (9.43 ± 1.05) (Table 1).
Conclusion: Our pilot study suggests that peer coaching in patients undergoing cardiac surgery is feasible and may improve CR participation rates. Moreover, it may increase patient readiness for surgery and support post-operative recovery in cardiac surgery patients. While we suspect the PCCP program may have mitigated some of the post-operative physiological challenges, further studies will need to be conducted to delineate the extent to which it does. Future studies with larger and more diverse patient populations with longer follow-up are warranted to confirm these preliminary findings and explore the broader applicability of peer coaching in cardiac surgery patients.