Barriers and facilitators of self-reported physical activity in cardiac patients

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of personal factors (age and gender), barriers (symptom distress and negative well-being), and facilitators (self-efficacy to exercise and positive well-being) with self-reported physical activity in cardiac patients. Sixty-four participants (50 men, 14 women) 6-12 months post-cardiac event participated in this study. We found that age and gender accounted for 14.7% of the variance, symptom distress and negative well-being accounted for an additional 21.6% of the variance, and self-efficacy accounted for the remaining 7.6% of the variance for a total of 44% of the variance in physical activity levels explained. These results suggest that personal factors and barriers are central variables, in addition to self-efficacy, in understanding the levels of physical activity achieved by patients after a cardiac event.