Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Some risk Abstract factors for recurrent CVD are preventable, such as physical activity. Social support is an important factor in the recovery of CVD patients. However, studies find that sometimes support may be unhelpful and even harmful. It is important to understand the ways support interactions occur in the wake of heart disease. This study will focus on support within the romantic dyad. Most CVD patients are men in their sixties, an age when most patients rely on their partners. This study focuses on the partner’s support and its influence on the well-being of the patient as well as the patient’s participation in health-promoting behaviors during a Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation Program. This study will focus on the role of attachment as a mediator between the support of the partner and the perception of support by the patient and his actual behavior in the context of cardiac rehabilitation. The research will be conducted in the Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation Center of Sheba Medical Center and will include 125 couples in which one of the partners experienced an acute cardiac event. Participants will be examined at three points (Time 1 at the initial day of the program; daily questionnaires during the program; three months after Time 1). The questionnaires will use a self-report scale. To test the study's hypotheses, Structural Equation Modeling analysis will be applied, shaped in a dyadic style that measures, beyond individual effects, also cross-effects between partners.

​

Eran and his research team are still collecting data, therefore there are no publications at this time. 

 

​

​

​