Personality and appointment--keeping adherence in cardiac rehabilitation

Literature reviews typically have concluded that personality factors are unrelated to adherence to treatment programs, including adherence to exercise prescribed in cardiac rehabilitation. This study constitutes a reconsideration of this conclusion. Using the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), a well-validated inventory of general personality tendencies, personality variables, and appointment-keeping in cardiac rehabilitation were examined.

Forty-nine men entering a cardiac rehabilitation program completed the CPI. Exercise capacity was measured on entry into the 4-month phase II/III program and at completion. Adherence indicators were appointment-keeping and completion or non-completion of the program. General appointment-keeping and hospital admissions during the subsequent year were tracked.

Appointment-keeping accounted for 35% of the variance in posttreatment exercise capacity, controlling for pretreatment exercise capacity. Scores on the CPI scales that were significantly related to appointment-keeping were Well-Being (perception of physical/emotional health), Socialization (acceptance of rules and regulations), and Communality (view of self as similar to others). These correlations ranged from 0.49 to 0.38. Those who completed the program (n = 39) had higher scores than those who did not (n = 10) on nearly all of the CPI scales. The differences were significant on the Socialization and Good Impression scales (desire for others to have a favorable impression of oneself). The Socialization score was correlated with keeping appointments in the follow-up year.

Personality variables were associated with appointment-keeping adherence. The consistency of our results with those of other recent studies of personality and adherence is discussed, along with implications for cardiac rehabilitation.