Exploring the meaning of recovery following myocardial infarction.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the meaning of recovery from the perspective of patients who have had a myocardial infarction (MI) and their carers.


METHODS
Constructivist grounded theory was used, incorporating individual and group interviews. Twenty-four cardiac support group members (15 patients and nine carers) participated in a group interview. Ten patients were individually interviewed six to nine months after MI.


RESULTS
Following an MI, participants felt different from how they were as a person' before the MI. Recovery was therefore an ongoing process that involved learning to live with that difference. 'Watchful insecurity' emerged as a core category in explaining recovery from the participants' perspective. Recovery was depicted as a series of 'peaks and troughs'.


CONCLUSIONS
The individual nature of each person's recovery pathway can be used to develop acceptable and accessible services to support recovery following MI.
Centre for Health and Social Care Research, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield. a.tod@shu.ac.uk
Angela
A
Tod
D000368:Aged; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*