Effects of a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation exercise program on motivationand health-promoting lifestyle

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 12-w eek cardiac rehabilitation exercise program on the motivation and lifestyle of persons recovering from a recent heart attack or cardiac-related proced ures. DESIGN: The study design was a pretest and posttest quasi-experimental, non random assignment. SETTING: The study was conducted at 4 cardiac rehabilitation centers in Nor theast Ohio, SUBJECTS: The study included 57: participants ill a cardiac rehabilitation exercise program (mean age = 64 years) and 57 comparisons (mean age = 64.6 years) who recently had a heart attack or underwent cardiac-related procedu res. OUTCOME MEASURE: Motivation and health-promoting Lifestyle were measured. INTERVENTION: A 12-week cardiac rehabilitation exercise program for small g roups of participants (fewer than 12 persons) tvas conducted. The program p rovided arm and leg exercises 3 times a week for 30 to 60 minutes per sessi on at an intensity of 60% to 90% of the maximum heart rate, RESULTS: Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data. After control ling for education, income, and pretest scores, the exercise group scored s ignificantly higher than the comparison,group! in most motivation-related v ariables. Regarding lifestyle, after adjusting for the control variables bo th groups showed positive changes during the 12-week period. but no signifi cant difference was found between the 2 groups in overall lifestyle. CONCLUSION: The findings of the study: confirmed that motivational variable s were modifiable. Thus, when developing health promotion programs for init iating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the relative importance of diff erent motivational variables should be considered.