Listening to the patients: using participatory design in the development of a cardiac telerehabilitation web portal.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of all deaths worldwide. Cardiac rehabilitation is an effective approach for preventing secondary complications, but it remains a complex intervention because of the need for lifestyle changes. One solution is to employ interactive telerehabilitation or eHealth web portals.

Conventional Rehabilitation Therapy Versus Telerehabilitation in Cardiac Patients: A Comparison of Motivation, Psychological Distress, and Quality of Life.

Telerehabilitation (TR) has gained attention as a promising rehabilitation format. Our study examined how patients responded to TR and whether it provided adequate support for their lifestyle changes and self-care efforts when compared to conventional rehabilitation (CR). Cardiac patients ( = 136) were randomly assigned to a TR or CR group.

Cardiac patients' experiences with a telerehabilitation web portal: Implications for eHealth literacy.

Objective: The aims of this study are two-fold: 1) To explore how cardiac patients experience their use of a telerehabilitation tool for recuperation from surgery, and 2) To study how the patients' use of the interactive 'Active Heart' web portal affected their eHealth literacy skills.

Methods: The 'Active Heart' telerehabilitation web portal offers patients and their relatives information and exercises for recovery from cardiac surgery. 109 cardiac patients were using the Active Heart web portal for a duration of three months.