Stress Management Intervention in Women's Heart Clinic, Heart SMART Program

Stress Management Intervention in Women's Heart Clinic, Heart SMART Program

Will the intervention (Heart SMART program) be feasible in moderate or high stress patients, who are referred to the Women's Heart and Preventive Cardiology clinics at Mayo Clinic?

The Heart SMART Program is designed to offer a practical and efficacious stress management and resiliency intervention. It involves making participants aware of practices to enhance present moment awareness and engagement. It teaches learners to train their attention, and refine interpretation; utilizing principles of gratitude, compassion, acceptance, higher meaning and forgiveness. Participants will choose to use one of two delivery methods (either the face to face method or the on-line method) of the Heart SMART program.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Women age 25-75 years.
2. Able to speak English and complete questionnaire.
3. Self-reported Stress Scale 6 - 10 (visual analog scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being lowest stress and 10 being highest stress)
4. Women in face to face session will have to be able to attend the SMART session.
5. Women in the online group will be required to have the ability to use internet to access the online training material.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Self-reported Stress Index <6
2. Pregnant women will be excluded from participation in the study. Pregnancy test is not required because the intervention in this study poses no risk
3. Unable to give written consent
4. Inability or refusal to cooperate with study procedures