Nurse-led cardiac rehabilitation programme on physical capacity and mental health for heart valve patients: study protocol of a quasi-experimental study.

Introduction: Evidence-based early rehabilitation intervention after heart valve surgery has been proven to have many benefits, but the experience of implementing nurse-led early rehabilitation combining exercise and psychology is still lacking. It is urgent to find a more acceptable and cost-effective method to provide exercise intervention and psychological support. The aim of this study is to design a nurse-led cardiac rehabilitation programme to increase the physical capacity and mental health for heart valve patient based on broaden-and-build theory.

Methods And Analysis: A non-blinded randomised controlled trial will be conducted. A total of 86 adults diagnosed with heart valve disease will be recruited and randomly assigned to the control group and intervention group. The recovery for valvular heart disease intervention, based on the broaden-and-build theory, will be guided one-on-one by a multidisciplinary team and will consist of two main components: physical intervention and psychological intervention. The baseline assessment will be conducted 1 to 2 days after admission, and sequent evaluations will be implemented at post-intervention, 3 months after intervention and 6 months after intervention. The primary outcome is the finding of six-min walk test and mental state. Other outcomes include quality of life, 36-item short-form health survey, Short Physical Performance Battery, stress, coping modes and social support.

Ethics And Dissemination: This study was conducted following the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the ethics committee of the Zhong Da Hospital, Southeast University (2024ZDSYLL098-P01). The results of this study are scheduled to be published in relevant peer-reviewed journals.

Trial Registration Number: Registered at the Chinese Clinical Trials.gov (ChiCTR2400090853).