ABSTRACT
The purpose of this descriptive naturalistic study was to: (a) explore how older women not participating in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR) acquire health knowledge regarding secondary prevention measures after a myocardial infarction (MI), and (b) describe women's perceived barriers to acquiring this knowledge. Women (N = 15), ages 66–88, participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data analysis resulted in four global categories: (a) previous learning, (b) self knowledge, (c) actively seeking knowledge from others, and (d) information provided by others. Barriers to acquiring health knowledge after MI without the support of outpatient CR were also identified.