Quantitative Findings:

Education session with vascular nurse had 39 participants out of 43 (91%). Education sessions with dietician had 36 participants out of 43 (84%). Only 16 participants out of 43 (37%) accepted the offer of individual dietician guidance.

In the per-protocol analyses, we included 39 patients who completed at least 70% of the 24 exercise sessions and participated in the treadmill follow-up test at 6 months. These findings make estimates and differences stronger in favour of the intervention group with a further 50 metres longer walking distance that increased 45% more in the intervention group compared with the control group (95% CI: 1.17-1.80; P=.001). Improvement at the 6-month follow-up was 400 metres in the intervention group versus 253 metres in the control group.

Qualitative Findings:

All participants expressed that education about the disease and diet is important but highlighted the two talented physiotherapists. They described how a local setting, the great variation in exercise, team spirit, having fun, playing, and competition are motivational factors of participation. They looked forward to what the physiotherapists would come up with next time because it led to different and fun training every time. They described how to exercise with others like themselves, so they do not feel alone, helped them get going. A patient explained:

“…It gives a lot more, more power so you want to do everything when you share it and do it in common.”

Mixed-Methods Inferences: Expansion

Qualitative and quantitative findings regarding participating in the interventions exercise sessions with physiotherapists and education sessions with vascular nurse and dietician expanded each other. Quantitative findings indicated that participating in the intervention depends on what the participants expressed in the qualitative findings of important motivational factors.