| The goal of this study was to identify the factors and gender differences that influence and predict the use of the cardiac rehabilitation program in St. John's, Newfoundland. The study attempted to cross-validate research conducted by Johnson, Weinert and Richardson, 1998. The Andersen-Newman framework (Andersen & Newman, 1973) consisting of three determinants of health care utilization (predisposing, enabling and need factors) was used to direct this research. The sample (N = 28; 13 females and 15 males) completed a variety of instruments that assessed various factors predicting the use of health services. The instruments were completed at two points, the first being at the outpatient clinic and the second after two months of participation in the cardiac rehabilitation program. Findings indicated that 17 (61%) of the participants attended at least one rehabilitation session. The predisposing variable, internal locus of control, was significant in regards to predicting number of sessions attended at rehabilitation (p = .053, SE B = .556). Gender differences were found to be significant for the predisposing factor of social support on the social interaction and tangible subscales (p = .048, d = .781 and p = .022, d = .906, respectively). The need factor of emotional health (vigour subscale) approached significance in regards to gender differences (p = .70, d = .709). Findings identified that barriers to participation and gender differences do exist in this small sample of cardiac rehabilitation patients which influenced participation and adherence to the local cardiac rehabilitation program. Future research should focus on conducting a study with a larger sample size. |
