Impact of a personalized support programme for patients with ACS: beliefs, persistence, and lifestyle change

Abstract

Introduction The ‘Life After Heart Attack’ (LAHA) patient support programme (PSP) is designed for patients diagnosed with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) and prescribed any type of oral anti-platelet (OAP) medication. LAHA is a six month intervention which is personalised to beliefs shown to be associated with non-adherence. The aim of this research was to evaluate the impact of LAHA on a range of outcomes. Method Data were collected measuring patients beliefs (treatment necessity, treatment concerns, duration of illness, and likelihood to discuss condition and treatment with HCP), persistence with treatment, and self-reported lifestyle change up to twelve months after enrolment. Percentage of persistent participants was calculated, and non-parametric Friedman’s ANOVA were conducted to measure change in beliefs. Results In the sample of 394 participants, there was a significant decrease in medication concerns (χ² (4)=45.24, p<.001), increase in perceived of duration of condition (χ² (4)=290.42, p<.001) and increase in likelihood to discuss condition and treatment with HCP (χ² (4)=37.17, p<.001). 83% of participants were persistent twelve months after enrolment. At six and twelve months approximately half the participants reported making making ‘quite a lot of change – a lot of change’ in relation to smoking, diet and exercise. Conclusions This research shows that over the course of the programme participants who have received the LAHA PSP report high levels of persistence. Patient beliefs, including beliefs about their medicines and their illness, significantly improve, and a large proportion of participants report making lifestyle changes in relation to exercise, diet and smoking.