Table 1

Participant activities and study contact

Participant activities

Home visits after discharge (weeks)^a

1 (baseline)

3

6

8 (short term)

26 (long term)

Outcome assessment: control and intervention groups

Health-related quality of life (SF-36)

Visit 1

-

-

Visit 5

Visit 6

Physical endurance (6 MWT/Borg)

Visit 1

-

-

Visit 5

Visit 6

Psychological status (DASS/IES)

Visit 1

-

-

Visit 5

Visit 6

Intervention group

Strength training

Visit 2

Visit 3

Visit 4

-

-

Endurance training

Visit 2

Visit 3

Visit 4

-

-

^a Visits 1, 5 and 6 are conducted by an assessor blinded to the study group; visits 2, 3 and 4 are conducted by a 'trainer' not involved in assessment, with follow up phone calls during weeks 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8 of the programme.

Borg, modified Borg Scale; DASS, Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale; IES, Impact of Events Scale; 6 MWT, 6 min walk test; SF-36, Short-Form-36 version 2.

Elliott et al. Critical Care 2006 10:R90   doi:10.1186/cc4949