The cardiac patient and exercise: a sociobehavioral analysis.
Health beliefs (health motivation, perceptions of illness, perceptions of resusceptibility, efficacy of treatment, barriers to treatment, and cues to taking health-related action), HLOC, patient satisfaction, social support, and self-motivation were studied in a group of cardiac patients (N = 41; 39 men and two women) who initiated and completed a phase II outpatient cardiac exercise program. Twenty-three had MI and 18 had CABG. They ranged in age from 34 to 75 years with a mean age of 53 1/2 years. Regarding health beliefs, the only subscales not reflecting the tendency toward compliant behavior were general health motivation and cues to taking health-related action. Scores on the remaining measures revealed a tendency for subjects to be externally controlled, satisfied with the program and staff, recipients of social support, and self-motivated. Although it was anticipated that patients with MI would differ significantly from patients who had CABG regarding these measures, this was not found to be true. A correlation matrix revealed that the most remarkable relationships were those between perceptions of severity of illness and general health motivation; HLOC and general health motivation; perceptions of severity and resusceptibility; cues to taking health-related action and satisfaction with the program staff; and satisfaction with the program and the program staff. Interestingly, perceptions of resusceptibility were negatively related to social support and self-motivation.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D005082:Physical Exertion; D012944:Social Support