Title : Basic psychological needs for exercise and adherence in community-dwelling elderly with coronary heart disease: The mediating role of motivation
Abstract:
Research has indicated that elderly individuals residing in communities who suffer from coronary heart disease tend to exhibit a relatively low level of adherence to exercise regimens. This research aimed to examine the present situation of exercise adherence and its associated factors among elderly patients with coronary heart disease who reside in the community. Additionally, it sought to explore the interconnections between exercise motivation, basic psychological requirements for exercise, and exercise adherence. This cross-sectional study employed a convenience sampling method to recruit 207 elderly patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) from communities in Zhengzhou City between February and May 2023. Data were collected using the following validated instruments: the General Information Questionnaire, Exercise Adherence Questionnaire, Psychological Needs Satisfaction in Exercise Scale (PNSE), Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-2 (BREQ-2), and Revised Control Attitudes Scale (CAS-R). The findings revealed that the exercise adherence score for elderly patients with coronary heart disease residing in the community amounted to (24.02±5.74) points. Monthly income, exercise frequency, basic psychological needs for exercise, exercise motivation, and perceived control were identified as the main influencing factors of exercise adherence (P<0.05). Mediation analysis demonstrated that exercise motivation played a partial mediating role between basic psychological needs for exercise and exercise adherence (accounting for 55.7% of the total effect). Basic psychological needs for exercise had a predictive direct impact on the exercise adherence of elderly community-dwelling patients with coronary heart disease. It is possible to improve exercise adherence by intervening in patients' exercise motivation and basic psychological needs for exercise.
