Positive Psychology to Improve Healthy Behaviors After an Acute Coronary Syndrome

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: In this proof-of-concept study, the investigators will assess the ease and usefulness of a positive psychology program in patients with acute coronary syndrome and less-than-optimal adherence to health behaviors. The investigators believe that positive psychology (a field that studies boosting positive emotions rather than simply reducing negative emotions) will help this cardiac population to be more healthy. The investigators want to determine whether this positive psychology program has the potential to be an adjunctive treatment for cardiac populations.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Adult patients admitted to one of three cardiac inpatient units at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Primary diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (myocardial infarction or unstable angina).
Less-than-optimal adherence to health behaviors. This will be defined as a mean score of less than 15 on the Medical Outcomes Study Specific Adherence Scale (scores range from 3-18, with higher scores indicating better adherence).

Exclusion Criteria

Cognitive deficits, assessed via a 6-item cognitive screen used to assess appropriate participation of medically-ill patients in research studies.
Patients not prescribed aspirin at discharge.
Inability to communicate in English.
Inability to participate in physical activity.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Positive psychology	Positive psychology intervention	Positive psychology intervention

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Rate of Exercise Completion	8 weeks	Rate of exercise completion will be measured by the number of participants who have a good rate of completion of exercises. There are 8 exercises in total. A good rate of completion will be defined as an average of 5 or more exercises completed per subject.
Ease of Exercises	8 weeks	Ease of exercises will be measured by a self-report 10-point Likert scale (0=not easy to complete, 10=very easy to complete). Ease will be defined as an average score of 6 or more on this scale.
Self-reported Psychological Impact of Exercises	8 weeks	Psychological impact of exercises will be measured by two self-reported 10-point Likert scales. One scale measures optimism after completing the exercise (0=not optimistic, 10=very optimistic), and the other scale measures happiness after completing the exercise (0=not happy, 10=very happy). Psychological impact will be defined as an average score of 6 or more on both of these scales.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Objective Psychological Impact of Exercises	8 weeks	Object psychological impact of exercises will be measured by clinician-administered questionnaires given at baseline and again at 8 weeks. These questionnaires include: 1. Life Orientation Test-Revised (scores range from 6-30; a high score means higher optimism) 2. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (scores range from 10-50; a higher score means higher levels of affect) 3. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (scores range from 0-42; a high score means higher depression and anxiety). Objective psychological impact will be defined as having significantly improved scores at 8 weeks as compared to scores at baseline.