A qualitative study of men's experience of myocardial infarction.

The majority of people experiencing myocardial infarction and attending cardiac rehabilitation are male and the outcome of rehabilitation is better for men. However, there is a lack of qualitative exploration of how men experience myocardial infarction and cardiac rehabilitation, which this study aims to address. Ten men who had recently had a myocardial infarction were interviewed using a semi-structured format, which covered events around the infarction, its impact on various aspects of life, ways of dealing with these experiences and experience of cardiac rehabilitation and other medical services. In this paper, the themes which emerged from Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of the interview transcripts will be described and discussed in relation to the existing literature, and particularly to White et al.'s (in press) study of women who had had a myocardial infarction. These themes relate to views of the self, the illness and the future, ways of coping and experiences of rehabilitation. Implications for services and future research will be discussed.