Study examines a couples’ therapy for heart patients

For a year during nursing school, Bernice Yates, Ph.D., cared for her mother who was dying of cancer.

She held her hand, bathed her and helped her family navigate the medical maze. The personal caregiving experience gave Dr. Yates a richer perspective on the most effective way to help patients make a stronger recovery.

Bernice Yates, Ph.D., teaches heart patient John Torchia and his wife, Rachel, a new exercise program while Claudia Stolinski, cardiovascular nurse specialist at the Nebraska Medical Center, takes John’s blood pressure.

An associate professor in the department of adult health and illness in the UNMC College of Nursing, Dr. Yates will launch a two-year pilot study to look at the outcomes of cardiac rehabilitation on patients and their spouses.

The 40-couple study, funded by a $225,000 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, is being done through the outpatient cardiac rehab centers at The Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Methodist Health System.

All patients will participate in exercise and education classes but only half of the patients’ spouses will join their partner in the activities.

Dr. Yates hypothesizes that cardiac patients have better long-term success if their spouses are included in their rehabilitation programs.

Their support is similar to the compassionate care and support she provided her own family during her mother’s illness and after her death.

For six months, Dr. Yates will follow their progress, noting each milestone in diet and exercise. For the partners of the cardiac patients, Dr. Yates and an interdisciplinary team of nurses, physicians, exercise physiologists and dietitians will assess and counsel them on their risk of heart disease.

For more This and other stories are included in the Spring 2010 edition of UNMC Discover.

Along with their partners, spouses will learn how much cardiovascular exercise they need to do.

The idea for the study spawned from an earlier research project in which Dr. Yates tracked the behavioral patterns of couples. Out of the 10 observed behaviors, she found that seven were shared behaviors between partners.

For example: if one person was inactive, the other person was inactive.

“They either shared positive or negative behaviors,” Dr. Yates said.

Her goal is to use the research to secure funding for a larger study.

Dr. Yates’ research complements the work being done by her colleagues through a five-year, $1.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to create a Healthy Heart Center that promotes health in Nebraskans in rural areas with, or at risk, for heart disease.