Effectiveness of Rehabilitation by Telephone Follow-up on the Self-Efficacy of Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Empowering patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery has a major role in promoting their health behaviors and improving self-efficacy is one a way to increase this skill. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of center-based rehabilitation and telephone follow-up on self-efficacy of CABG patients. In this randomized controlled trial, 77 patients undergoing CABG referred to Shahid Madani Medical Educational Center of Khorramabad were selected by convenience sampling. Then, they were randomly divided into two groups: telephone follow-up (N=38) and control (N=39). The intervention group received cardiac rehabilitation for 4 weeks and the control group did not receive any intervention. Trail questionnaires were completed by the patients before (at discharge) and after the study. The mean score of pre-study was not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.960). But the findings after the study showed that self-efficacy was significantly different in the clinical practice of patients in the follow-up group compared to the control group (P = 0.001). Based on the findings on the effectiveness of telephone follow-up in increasing the self-efficacy of patients undergoing CABG, it is recommended to use this method as a low-cost but effective method.