Peer Mentored Approaches For Men And Women With Coronary Artery Disease ("4Steps")

The overall hypothesis of this proposal is that the addition of a peer mentor and training in Transcendental Meditation to usual care will improve perceived stress and medication adherence for men and women with newly diagnosed CAD as compared with usual care.

Participants will be "randomized" into one of two study groups:

Arm 1 - Standard Of Care (SOC) Arm 3 - SOC, assignment of a peer mentor, and the opportunity to receive training in transcendental meditation

We are no longer enrolling in Arm 2 of the study (SOC and subjects addition of a peer mentor).

Subjects will be assessed at baseline, 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months with surveys and assessments.

SOC may include routine outpatient physician assessment, preventive medications with appropriate titration, routine blood draws, advice on lifestyle change, referral to cardiac rehabilitation, use of commercially available medical apps.

Investigation - use of peer mentor and use of transcendental meditation.

• Peer mentor: These are volunteers with CAD, who will undergo training prior to be assigned a mentee. Content of the training will focus on a review of health counseling, basics of CAD pathophysiology and medications, information on situations where the mentor should advise the subject to contact her doctor, and confidentiality. Mentors are intended to provide psychosocial and limited educational support for subjects.
• Transcendental meditation (TM). TM is a standardized meditation technique done 20 minutes twice each day while sitting with the eyes closed. Although data are heterogeneous, TM has been demonstrated to reduce blood pressure in several small studies.

Inclusion criteria

For Participants:

• Men and women aged 18-90
• English speaking
• Newly diagnosed with CAD (myocardial infarction [MI], percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI], coronary artery bypass graft [CABG]), acute coronary syndrome, or any imaging test suggestive of CAD).

For Mentors:

(Male mentors will be paired with male participants, and female mentors will be paired with female participants.)

• Men and women aged 18-90
• English speaking
• Established (greater than 1yr prior to study) diagnosis of CAD (myocardial infarction [MI], percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI], coronary artery bypass graft [CABG] acute coronary syndrome, or imaging test suggestive of CAD).

Exclusion criteria

For Participants:

• Previously diagnosed CAD (MI, PCI, CABG, acute coronary syndrome or imaging test suggestive of CAD)
• Inability or unwillingness to provide written consent
• Non-English speaking
• Prior formal training and practice of TM

For Mentors:

• Inability or unwillingness to provide written consent
• Non-English speaking