| Sedentary lifestyle is one of the most prevalent risk factors for the development and maintenance of cardiovascular disease in the United States. Although a challenge, healthcare providers are in a unique position to promote the adoption and maintenance of regular exercise to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease. For this effort to be effective, research on exercise behavior in the context of cardiac rehabilitation is needed. Utilizing Prochaska and DiClemente's (1983) stages of change model and Schwarzer and Fuch's (1995) conceptualization of self-efficacy, the purpose of this study was aimed at identifying the impact of cardiac rehabilitation patients' initial exercise stage of change and initial level of perceived self-efficacy on physiological outcomes.;Sixty-nine cardiac rehabilitation patients from a small, Midwestern city completed the Exercise Stage of Change Questionnaire (McCaughney, Prochaska, & DiClemente, 1982) and the Cardiac Self-Efficacy Scale. The physiological variables (resting heart rate, resting systolic blood pressure, and metabolic equivalents) were assessed after twelve sessions of cardiac rehabilitation. Based on participants' pre-program exercise stage of change or initial level of self-efficacy, independent sample t-tests were calculated to assess the mean pre to post difference scores. Although the independent sample t-tests were not significant, the author offers several explanations for the findings along with recommendations for future research. |
