Heart and Stroke Foundation study aims to improve women's physical activity after cardiac rehab

Research shows that women are less likely than men to stick to regular physical activity after their cardiac rehabilitation. Nova Scotia researcher Chris Blanchard from Halifax wants to find out why. "We're trying to figure out what factors explain these women's exercise levels after they leave the organized rehab," Dr. Blanchard says. "Do they come from high or low-income communities? Are there high crime rates in the area? Does it matter if the rehab setting is women-only? Is there a support system for the women? Out of all of the factors, what can best explain why women don't do as much activity after finishing cardiac rehab as men do?" With funding from the Foundation, Dr. Blanchard's team has surveyed 500 participants and wants to get another 700 to take the questionnaire as well. Although he doesn't have any results yet, he does have an idea about why men might maintain higher activity levels than women. "Generally speaking, we suspect that men are going to have more confidence to overcome barriers to activity. We suspect that women are less likely to use freely available facilities in their environment and that the distance to an exercise centre may play more of a role for them, as well."