{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,7]],"date-time":"2026-01-07T14:41:29Z","timestamp":1767796889819,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,4]],"date-time":"2025-12-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764806400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":3,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,12]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To explore cardiac rehabilitation (CR) professionals\u2019 perspectives on kinesiophobia in patients with cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to understand the perspectives of healthcare professionals (HCPs) regarding their perceptions, assessments and management of kinesiophobia.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Design<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A qualitative descriptive study using in-depth interviews and thematic analysis.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Setting<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study was carried out through online interviews at a university teaching hospital in South India.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Participants<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>HCPs involved in CR, from around the world, were invited to participate through advertisements on social media and through professional forums. 12 HCPs, including CR nurses (n=1), CR physicians (n=1), cardiac surgeons (n=1), cardiac electrophysiologists (n=1), rehabilitation physicians (n=1), cardiologists (n=2), exercise physiologists (n=2) and physiotherapists (n=3), agreed to participate.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Interventions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Not applicable (qualitative study without interventions).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Primary and secondary outcome measures<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews focused on HCP perceptions regarding kinesiophobia and its assessment, management and awareness within CR.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Thematic analysis generated 337 codes, which formed seven subthemes: the perceived burden of kinesiophobia, reasons for kinesiophobia, HCP experiences with kinesiophobia, methods of assessing kinesiophobia, management strategies, reasons why kinesiophobia is overlooked and the importance of promoting awareness of kinesiophobia.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>CR professionals recognise kinesiophobia as a significant issue among patients with heart disease but do not recognise the term or perceive it as a separate condition; instead, they view it as part of the overall clinical presentation. There is a strong need to advocate for early recognition and assessment of kinesiophobia and for the development of structured management strategies and its inclusion into CR programmes to improve patient outcomes during recovery.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Trial registration number<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study was prospectively registered in the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI\/2022\/05\/042502). This study received approval from the Kasturba Medical College and Kasturba Hospital Institutional Ethics Committee-2 (Student Research) with reference number IEC2:13\/2022.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-101393","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,5]],"date-time":"2025-12-05T09:50:28Z","timestamp":1764928228000},"page":"e101393","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Kinesiophobia in heart disease: \u2018it is part of the process\u2019 or is it? Perspectives from cardiac rehabilitation professionals \u2013 a qualitative study in healthcare settings"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Amy Jane","family":"Jacob","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Psychology, Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education - Manipal Campus, Manipal, India"},{"name":"Barnet Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team, Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust, London, UK"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1084-0137","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abraham Samuel","family":"Babu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiotherapy, Manipal College Of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education - Manipal Campus, Manipal, 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