Author: Nidal HarbPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Heart
Languages : en
Pages : 124
Book Description
Background: Although the physical and psychological benefits of exercise training in cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP) are well documented in literature, the efficacy of these prescribed exercises is still limited by the high drop rates and non-adherence. Many strategies and interventions have been employed to increase exercise adherence in cardiovascular patients in CRP with limited success. Although, the sharing of success stories has been used widely in different disciplines as an effective tool to promote behavioral change, however, there is a limited amount of literature about the use of success stories in health promotion. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of success stories on exercise self-efficacy, positive outcome expectations, and exercise adherence among cardiovascular patients in a phase II outpatient CRP.Theoretical Framework: Based on Bandura's (1997) social cognitive theory (SCT), the conceptual model guiding this study included success stories, exercise self-efficacy, and positive outcome expectations as the main concepts that determine the exercise adherence behavior. Methods: A pre-test/post-test experimental design was utilized in this study. A convenience sample of 128 participants of cardiovascular patients undergoing a phase II outpatient CRP were recruited and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The participants in both study groups received the traditional educational printouts provided by outpatient CRP department. However, only the participants in the experimental group received the study intervention of success stories in the form of 10-minute DVD before starting the phase II outpatient CRP. The success stories DVD included interviews of two cardiovascular patients who previously completed the CRP; the patients discussed the benefits they gained from their CRP completion. These stories were utilized as a verbal persuasion method to improve the exercise self-efficacy beliefs (ESES) and outcome expectations (OEE) toward exercise adherence of the participants in the experimental group. Data were collected at three points in time when participants entered and took part in the outpatient CRP. At time point 1, pretest measures of the ESES and OEE were collected from the participants before their random assignment to treatment or control groups. At time point 2, posttest measures of ESES and OEE were collected from participants in the experimental group after they reviewed the educational printouts and watched the success stories DVD; posttest measures of ESES and OEE were collected from participants in the control group after they reviewed the educational printouts. Time 1 and time 2 measures were obtained from both groups before they started their medically supervised exercise training. Then, at point time 3, the exercise adherence data were collected at the end of the CRP from cardiovascular patients' medical records. Results: The findings of this study indicated that participants who listened to success stories had significantly higher exercise adherence rates, t(126) = 2.414, p = .017, and reported significant improvements in their exercise self-efficacy levels, t(126) = -2.44, p = .016, compared to participants in the control group. Groups did not differ significantly on outcome expectations for exercise, t(126) = -1.6, p = .11. Finally, the results show that the effect of success stories on exercise adherence was not mediated by the exercise self-efficacy, b = - .76, 95% CI [-4.13 to 2.29], or outcome expectations, b = -.60, 95% CI [-3.26 to 1.46].Conclusions: Success stories were found to be effective in promoting exercise adherence in cardiovascular patients in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. Further research is needed to examine the length, dose, type, and content of success stories that can produce a significant impact on the patient health-related attitudes and behaviors.
