The efficacy of interpersonal psychotherapy on action flexibility and blood-pressure in women with coronary artery disease

Based on the evidence, Patients with coronary artery disease have unstable blood pressure and low action flexibility, which causes disease recurrence and increased risk of death. Based on previous studies, Interpersonal therapy can help treat disorders in chronic patients, However, there is a research gap regarding the effectiveness of this type of treatment on action flexibility and blood pressure of women with coronary artery disease.

The current study aims to determine the efficacy of interpersonal psychotherapy on action flexibility and blood- pressure in women with coronary artery disease.

The current study was a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test type with a control group and a follow-up period (45 days). The statistical population of the study includes all female patients with coronary artery disease who had an appointment at the Cardiac Rehabilitation in Afshar Clinic of Yazd in 2021; 28 of them were selected in a targeted method and replaced by random assignment in the groups. Data collection tools include Action flexibility questionnaire (Connor & Davidson, 2003) and sphygmomanometer. The data was analyzed using mixed variance analysis and SPSS24 software.

According to the results obtained, interpersona psychotherapy significantly affects the flexibility of patients' actions (P>0.05). Although this treatment had a significant effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the end of the interventions, this effect was not effective in the follow-up stage (p<0.05).

Based on the findings of the present research, it seems, interpersonal psychotherapy improves the functional flexibility of coronary artery patients. Therefore, it is important for specialists to know about this treatment in order to improve the action flexibility and blood pressure of coronary artery patients.