Shazareen's research study is titled “Life After Cardiac Rehabilitation: An Evaluation of Lifestyle, Injury and Care.” The purpose of her research is to identify and understand factors related to the long-term physical activity (PA) behaviour of patients who have graduated from cardiac rehabilitation (CR), with particular emphasis on women.
Most known research indicates that only 50% of patients meet current PA guidelines 1-2 years after CR. Little is known about what happens several years (ie. 2-5 years) afterwards and what factors influence PA. She hopes to identify factors at the individual, community and health care level as part of a proposed modification of the socio-ecological model to help us understand better whether men and women cardiac patients are able to maintain heart-healthy lifestyles after rehabilitation.
In addition, Shazareen is interested in understanding the severity of falls among the cardiac population, knowing that there are approximately 1 in 3 adults over the age of 65 who fall each year and that those with chronic diseases are at a greater risk. CR is an intervention that may help prevent falls and injury among elderly patients, particularly women, but this has not been examined before in the literature. She also hopes to assess whether fear-of-falling may be related to PA behaviour.
Shazareen is currently carrying-out an observational study with 1,250 patients who graduated from CR between 2005-2008 at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. The research is projected for completion in Fall 2011.