[Motivation for exercise of cancer patients--a longitudinal study of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM)]

Exercise training becomes more important in the rehabilitation of cancer patients. Training programs of rehabilitation centers provides different degrees of difficulty for patients with cancer. Within the framework of the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change the motivation for exercise beyond the clinic residence is characterized by the stage of change concept. This study analyses the assumptions of the Transtheoretical Model over the time-period of three months.

Different TTM-questionnaires (a staging algorithm, self-efficacy expectations, decisional balance, and processes of change) were administered two times to a sample of 121 cancer patients of the rehabilitation clinic. Patients were classified into three groups having regarded individual changes of motivational readiness between the two points in time (regression, unchanged, progression). Statistical analyses of variance were used to test the assumptions of differences between the groups in terms of the dependent variables.

The analysis shows significant differences between the three groups for self-efficacy expectations and behavioral processes of change. This result supports the theory, while the constructs decisional balance and cognitive-affective processes do not differ significant.