Conclusions We found that psychological intervention  improved psychological symptoms and reduced cardiac mortality for people with CHD .
However , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of these effects and the specific techniques most likely to benefit people with different presentations of CHD
Background Although psychological interventions are recommended for the management of coronary heart disease ( CHD ) , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding their effectiveness .
Effects of a health education programme with telephone follow-up during cardiac rehabilitation.
A health education and counselling programme was offered to myocardial infa rct ion patients during and after hospitalization . A r and omized pre-test-post-test control group design was used to evaluate the effects of the experimental intervention . During hospitalization the intervention consisted of two individual counselling sessions and two group health education sessions focusing on medication , healthy habits , anxiety and depression . On completion of these sessions , weekly telephone calls were made to patients for a period of six weeks after discharge from hospital . The intervention was offered to 30 myocardial infa rct ion patients and their partners ( the experimental group ) in addition to  st and ard medical care . Thirty control patients received st and ard medical care only . Two months after myocardial infa rct ion , patients in the experimental condition reported a significantly greater increase in physical activity , and a significantly greater decrease in unhealthy eating habits . No effects were found regarding smoking cessation , anxiety and depression . Twelve months after discharge from hospital patients in the experimental condition reported a significantly greater decrease in unhealthy eating habits . No effects were found regarding smoking cessation , physical activity , anxiety and depression . In addition , two months after myocardial infa rct ion , it was found that patients whose partners participated in the health education sessions showed a significantly greater decrease in smoking and unhealthy eating habits and a significantly greater increase in physical activity than patients with no partner participating . Twelve months after discharge the only significant result favouring the patients whose partner participated in the health education sessions concerned smoking cessation
Conclusions We found that psychological intervention  improved psychological symptoms and reduced cardiac mortality for people with CHD .
However , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of these effects and the specific techniques most likely to benefit people with different presentations of CHD
Background Although psychological interventions are recommended for the management of coronary heart disease ( CHD ) , there remains considerable uncertainty regarding their effectiveness .