Improving health professionals' self-efficacy to support cardiac patients' emotional recovery: the "Cardiac Blues Project'

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Many patients experience the 'cardiac blues' at the time of an acute cardiac event, and one in five go on to develop severe depression. These emotional responses often go undetected and unacknowledged. We initiated the 'Cardiac Blues Project' in order to help support patients' emotional recovery. As part of the project, we developed online training in order to support health professionals in the identification and management of the cardiac blues and depression. The aim of this study was to assess the acceptability of the training and its impacts on health professionals' self-efficacy. METHOD: In July 2014, a 'cardiac blues' pack of patient resources, including access to health pr..