Environmental Physical activity cOrrelates after Cardiac Hospitalization (EPOCH)

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in Canada. One reason for this is CHD patients lack of cardio-respiratory fitness / moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels. Regrettably, research has shown that female patients engage in significantly less MVPA after hospitalization compared to males. As such, females may be less likely to achieve the cardio-respiratory fitness / MVPA levels needed to prevent subsequent recurrence and / or mortality compared to males. Therefore, an intervention to reduce the gender disparity in MVPA is warranted. The present project has 5 objectives: (1) to determine the total number of minutes of MVPA (i.e., measured objectively via an accelerometer) in heart disease patients for a 1-week period at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months, (2) to map "where" patients are expending the total number of minutes of MVPA by linking accelerometry measures with a global positioning system (GPS), (3) to examine the association between the time spent in MVPA and the MVPA location characteristics (i.e., the socioeconomic status, urban vs. rural, and access to MVPA opportunities associated with each MVPA location), (4) to determine if the MVPA location characteristics (i.e., environmental) interact with the (a) intrapersonal (e.g., self-efficacy), (b) interpersonal (e.g., social support from family), and (c) institutional (e.g., perceived quality of care) levels of the social ecological model in the same way for male and female patients, and (5) to build capacity across Atlantic Canada pertaining to MVPA issues via hosting a forum in each site's community that involves the principal investigator, research coordinator, research assistant and cardiologist for the given site,patients, family / friends, healthcare practitioners, and community stakeholders.