The aim of this presentation is to critically review the effectiveness of interventions to modify dieting, exercising, and smoking behaviors in individuals with coronary heart disease. The overall evaluation indicates that the typical cardiac patient is a man (90%) with an average age of 55 years. Of the 24 studies reviewed, those with a less rigorous evaluation design tended to report positive results more frequently than those that adopted a more sophisticated evaluation method. Among the issues that future interventions will have to address are: (1) the theoretical assumptions underlying the development of educational materials that include: (a) the definition of an appropriate message, (b) knowledge of factors associated with resistance to behavioral modification, and (c) readability of educational materials; (2) the specificity of the intervention to the targeted behavioral factor and the relative effectiveness of unifactor and multifactor interventions; (3) the consideration of alternative strategies for modification of behaviors not under the control of the individual; and (4) the quality of measurement techniques used to assess the effectiveness of the interventions. In sum, the actual effectiveness of interventions is controversial, and to clearly establish the benefits of secondary prevention, improved studies are necessary.
For more information on this journal, please visit http://www.lww.com.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PDF locator
• publisher