Being part of a couple may be good for your heart
Tamara Sher, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology in the Institute of Psychology of the Illinois Institute of Technology, has recently completed a pilot study to determine the affect of being part of a couple or intimate relationship on recovery from a cardiac event such as a heart attack or stroke.
“Being part of a couple means that you have a support system in place already. By ignoring that potentially therapeutic relationship, cardiac patients may be missing out,” says Sher. “Doctors should counsel couples together on lifestyle changes that need to be made after a patient experiences a significant cardiac event like a heart attack or stroke so the patient isn’t making all these difficult changes on their own.”
“If the couple’s relationship is poor or under stress, the therapeutic value of being part of a couple after a cardiac event may be lost, or the problems may worsen the cardiac condition,” Sher explains. “Couples counseling is an even better idea for these couples.”
Sher is working with cardiologists and other researchers at Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago.
Cardiac problems account for billions of dollars a year spent on healthcare. More than half of the money spent on cardiac related illness is in recovery from events like heart attack, stroke or surgery. Lowering the cost of care after a cardiac event could save billions. Sher believes that by treating the couple as opposed to just the patient may make recovery faster and help patients in complying with the doctor’s orders – exercise, eat better, quit smoking and take those meds!
For her pilot study, Sher recruited couples where one member had experienced a cardiac event in the last six months. These couples were enrolled in an 18-week intervention program where they received counseling on nutrition, exercising and how to quit smoking (if applicable). They were also counseled on how they could work together to help the patient recover faster and better.
At the end of the pilot study, Sher found that the couples really enjoyed the intervention program and found it very educational. She is now recruiting for a much larger, long-term study.
Sher has a four-year $2.2 million from the National Institutes of Health Heart, Lung & Blood Institute to study the affect of being in a couple on heart health and recovery after cardiac events. She has teamed with researchers from Rush Presbyterian Saint-Luke’s.
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