Background: In the developed part of the world, coronary heart disease is the major cause of death and is one of the leading causes of disease burden. In Sweden, more than 30,000 people per year are affected by myocardial infarction and out of these approximately 40% are women. Nearly 70% of the women survive and after a myocardial infarction a recovery process follows. Today’s health care focuses more on treatment, symptoms and risk factors than on the individuals’ perceptions of the recovery process. Aim: To explore cardiac rehabilitation nurses’ experiences of factors influencing female patients’ recovery after their first myocardial infarction. Methods: Twenty cardiac rehabilitation nurses were interviewed. The study was conducted using qualitative content analysis. Results: The cardiac rehabilitation nurses experienced that women’s recovery after a first myocardial infarction was influenced whether they had a supportive context, their ability to cope with the stresses of life, if they wanted to be involved in their own personal care and how they related to themselves. Conclusions: Women’s recovery after a myocardial infarction was influenced by factors related to surroundings as well as own individual factors. The underlying meaning of women’s recovery can be described as the transition process of a recovery to health. Our findings suggest that a focus on person-centered nursing would be beneficial in order to promote the every woman’s personal and unique recovery after a myocardial infarction. Finally, the cardiac rehabilitation nurses’ experiences of factors influencing male patients’ recovery after their first myocardial infarction should be important to investigate.

Background: After a myocardial infarction and discharge from the hospital a recovery process follows for the women. In order to facilitate their recovery, both a preventive and promotive perspective should be taken into consideration. Despite this, today´s healthcare focuses more on prevention and thus research into the promotion of women’s recovery process is needed.

Aim: To explore how women’s recovery processes are promoted after a first myocardial infarction

Methods: The study had an explorative and descriptive design based on qualitative content analysis.

Findings: The women’s recovery process was promoted through using external and internal resources as well as embracing behaviour, social and psychological dimensions. The women embraced these dimensions to a varying extent and this process led to them being able to take in a new perspective on life.

Conclusions: The women’s personal recovery is a multidirectional process with a desire to develop and approach a new perspective on life. It is important for cardiac rehabilitation nurses to not only focus on lifestyle changes and social support, but also on working actively with the women’s inner strength in order to promote the personal recovery of the women. Furthermore, it would be interesting to investigate men’s experiences of how their recovery process after a first Myocardial infarction is promoted.