In this study the effects of rehabilitation teaching plus exercise testing on perceived self-efficacy for and performance of daily activities were compared with and without exercise training. Subjects were patients who had had myocardial infarction or cardiac surgery (mean age 57.7 +/- 11.3 years) and who had already received inpatient rehabilitation services. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Treatment group 1 (n = 11) received teaching, treadmill exercise testing, and exercise training (three times weekly for 5 weeks). Treatment group 2 (n = 15) received only teaching and exercise testing. The control group (n = 14) received only routine care without supervised exercise or teaching. Measurements of self-efficacy and activity performance were made at hospital discharge and at 4 and 9 weeks after the cardiac event. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed an increase in self-efficacy scores (p < 0.001) and performance of physical activity (p < 0.001) for all groups. Both treatment groups, especially the training group, obtained the highest scores, but differences between groups were nonsignificant (p > 0.05). These results indicate that in a sample of uncomplicated, motivated patients who had participated in a phase 1 inpatient rehabilitation program, substantial improvements in self-efficacy and performance of daily activities were made early in recovery, before the onset of phase 2, formalized outpatient therapy.

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