Rehabilitation for Survivors of Cardiac Arrest Focused on Fatigue

Summary

More people are surviving a cardiac arrest due to improvements in bystander resuscitation and acute hospital care. However, many survivors of cardiac arrest are left with physical, mental and social problems impacting negatively on their quality of life. At present there are no specialist interventions for survivors of cardiac arrest in Denmark and very few have been evaluated internationally. Rehabilitation for people after cardiac events or brain injury have shown significant physical and mental well-being benefits, indicating the same may be true for survivors of cardiac arrest.

This pilot study will test the feasibility and acceptability of a residential rehabilitation intervention focused on fatigue, and the physical, mental and social consequences of cardiac arrest. In addition, the pilot study will discover if the intervention has any effect on self-report measures, including fatigue, mental well-being and activity of the survivors of cardiac arrest who participate, and on the mental well-being of relatives of these survivors.

Conditions

• Cardiac Arrest With Successful Resuscitation

Interventions

OTHER

SCARF (Survivors of Cardiac Arrest Rehabilitation focused on Fatigue)

The intervention will be delivered by a multidisciplinary team. There will be individual testing and feedback on physical capacity and cognitive ability. Group sessions will include education on the consequences of cardiac arrest, promotion of techniques to ameliorate these consequences, for example, increasing physical activity or energy conservation. Additional sessions will cover psychological reactions; family life; work life; intimacy; and existential considerations. Participants will have a course information book with a physical activity training diary and problem-solving therapy worksheets to use at home for 12-weeks. They will receive one phone call from the clinical team during this period. The 2-day return stay will revisit the subjects from the first 5-day stay. Participating survivors who have a relative that wishes to attend will be included in all the group sessions and individual feedback but will not take part in the physical capacity or cognitive ability tests.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• REHPA The Danish Knowledge Center for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Southern Denmark

  collaborator OTHER

• Odense Patient Data Explorative Network

  collaborator OTHER

• Center for Rehabilitation of brain injury, Copenhagen

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Odense University Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ann-Dorthe Zwisler, Professor, PhD · REHPA The Danish Knowledge Center for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-10-11

Primary Completion

2021-06-01

Completion

2021-06-01

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations