Abstract:
This study was a quasi-experimental design aimed to examine the effect of the perceived self - efficacy promoting program on exercise behavior of patients with coronary artery disease. The self-efficacy Theory of Bandura (1997) was utilized to develop the intervention. Subjects were 40 coronary artery disease patients after infarction receiving medical treatment. Participants were matched by age, sex, NYHA classification, comorbidity, and previous exercise behavior. Subjects were randomly assigned to control and experimental group, 20 for each group. The control group received routine nursing care while the experimental group received the perceived self-efficacy promoting program. The perceived self-eficacy promoting program consisted of 4 steps: 1) Verbal persuation, 2) Modeling, 3) Enactive mastery experience, and 4) Physiological and emotional arousal. The intervention included lesson plan, flip charts and handbook. Data on exercise behavior was collected using a questionnaire. It was tested for content validity and reliability. Cronbachs alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was at .87. Data were analyzed using descriptive and t- test statistics. Major findings were as follow: 1. The mean score of exercise behavior of the patients with coronary artery disease after receiving the perceived self-efficacy promoting program was significantly higher than before receiving the program (p < .01). 2. The mean score of exercise behavior of the patients with coronary artery disease in the experimental group after receiving the self-efficacy promoting program was significantly higher than those of the control group (p < .01).