Effects of a brief couple therapy intervention in cardiac rehabilitation -A controlled trial

The effects of a brief couple therapy intervention in cardiac rehabilitatio n was investigated in a randomised controlled trial. The tre-ating physicia n and a psychologist conducted an intervention of two to four sessions with 19 patients with coronary diseases at the IIa stage according to WHO and t heir partners. The 21 patients in the control group received standard care with no additional intervention. Depressive symptoms, global self-rating of health status and disease related concerns were assessed at the beginning of training and nine months later. Patients in the experimental group more often stated to feel better immediately after the intervention. Over the ob servation period they showed significantly more favour-able changes in obse rver rated depressive symptoms, self-rated health status and concerns. Pati ents and partners in the experimental group assessed the outcome of rehabil itation significantly more positive after nine months. The findings suggest that a very short couple therapy intervention, which can be administered i n routine care, can have positive effects in cardiac out-patient rehabilita tion. Larger studies are required for testing whether the effects of such i nterventions are restricted to depressive symptoms and subjective appraisal s, or whether other outcome criteria such as mortality can also be influenc ed.