When standardisation meets everyday life: exploring the fit between cardiac rehabilitation and everyday life for people with heart failure

Purpose Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a recommended secondary prevention intervention, typically delivered as a standardised, evidence-based programme. At the same time, contemporary healthcare increasingly emphasises person-centred care responsive to individuals’ everyday lives and needs. How this tension between standardisation and accommodating complexity of everyday life unfolds during CR and its consequences remains unclear. This study explored the fit between standardised CR and the everyday lives and needs of people with heart failure (HF).Materials and methods Eleven newly diagnosed people with HF were interviewed approximately 14 weeks after referral to CR, corresponding to the time at which CR is typically expected to be completed according to guidelines. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was employed to explore and analyse the lived experience of CR in their everyday lives. The interviews were analysed using narrative analysis.Results The main themes identified in the analysis were: (1) Timing Challenges in Standardised Cardiac Rehabilitation (2) Content Challenges in Standardised Cardiac Rehabilitation.Conclusion The results suggest that the tension between standardised CR and participants’ complex everyday lives and needs shapes how CR is experienced and engaged with. Fixed timing and perceived generic, disease-specific content were often not attuned to periods of vulnerability or diverse everyday needs.