Description of the sample
The sample consisted of 5 clinicians (three physicians, one NP, and one PA) and 15 patients, whose demographic characteristics and literacy levels are presented in Table 1 . Patients’ mean age was 71.1 ± 8.6 years, one-third were female, one-third identified as non-White. Nearly one-quarter of participants did not speak English as their primary language, 20% reported inadequate financial resources, half had a high school education or less, and half had inadequate health literacy. The mean subjective numeracy score was moderate (mean score 12.7 ± 4.1), indicating moderate perceived ability to perform mathematical tasks and preference for numerical versus prose information.25In qualitative interviews, participants who reported high subjective numeracy frequently related it to their professional identities as a “businessperson” or a similar role that involves working with numbers.
The time since ablation ranged from 1 to 18 months (mean 7.0 [SD 7.0] months). Most patients rated their first episode of AF as severe (mean 7.3 ± 2.9 out of 10), 40% had a prior cardioversion, and 33% had a prior ablation to treat AF. In the past year, half had gone to the emergency room or the hospital and almost all (93%) had seen a cardiologist for AF. Prior to an ablation, patient symptom severity ranged from “barely noticeable” to extremely severe, with symptomatic patients reporting a wide range of symptoms. Most patients described long histories of trialing multiple medications and interventions (including cardioversions and previous ablations) to treat AF, which was a major source of anxiety and hardship. One patient stated that“AFib was harder for me to get over than cancer.” -Patient 6. Others described the burden that paroxysmal AF symptoms, which may come and go with little warning, had on their mental health before the ablation:“I felt like it was a sword hanging over my head. I never knew when I would start to feel AFib, whether it was going to pass in an hour, whether it was not going to pass in an hour. And it made me more anxious. And it was anticipatory anxiety that I had.” -Patient 2.