A cardiac event requires continuous adjustment by both patient and partner as they cope with the acute event and later lifestyle changes. Little has been published about patient and partner views of the patient’s health related quality of life (HRQL) related to cardiac rehabilitation participation. The purpose of this study was to describe patient versus partner ratings of the patient’s HRQL before and after 6 weeks of phase II cardiac rehabilitation. Roy’s Adaptation Model framed the study. A nonprobability sample of patients referred to phase II cardiac rehabilitation and their partners were recruited. The study enrolled 54 patient/partner pairs. The patient and partner perception of the patient’s HRQL was measured using the Short Form-36 v2™ (SF-36) instrument. Differences in HRQL ratings between two groups were evaluated at Time 1 (entry to phase II cardiac rehabilitation) and at Time 2 (after the patient completed 6 weeks of phase II cardiac rehabilitation). Differences between the means of the groups were tested with a student’s t-test, (p < 0.05). Preliminary results indicate statistically significant difference between patient and partner views of the patient’s HRQL in vitality (p < 0.001) both at Time 1 (T1) and at Time (T2) 2, in mental health (p < 0.001) at T1, and in the mental component summary (p < 0.05) at T1. Partner views of the patient, often neglected, may increase understanding of factors affecting the patient’s recovery after a cardiac event as well as guiding interventions to ease the stress of both patient and partner during recovery.