Have You Met Your METs? – Enhancing Patient Motivation to Achieve Physical Activity Targets in Cardiac Tele-rehabilitation

Abstract

Physical exercise is a primary component of cardiac rehabilitation. Interpreting exercise targets and being aware of the expected effort while rehabilitating independently at home is challenging for patients. Our work aims to assist cardiac patients in understanding their condition better and motivating them to achieve their exercise targets in a tele-rehabilitation setting. We introduce a patient-centric intelligible visualization approach to present prescribed rehabilitation targets to patients based on Metabolic Equivalent of Tasks (METs). We assessed efficacy of intelligible visualizations on patients’ comprehension in a lab study. We evaluated the impact on patient motivation and health outcomes in field studies. Patients were able to manage their prescribed activities, monitor their progress, and gained understanding on how their physical activities contribute to their rehabilitation targets. Patients confirmed that the intelligible visualizations motivated them to achieve their targets better. We observed an improvement in overall physical activity levels and health outcomes of patients.