Title:
Motivating Health Behaviour in Inpatient Rehabilitation
Project management at the University of Würzburg:
Participating scientists:
Abstract:
Background
For patients suffering from chronic diseases health behaviours are crucial to the progression of the disease. The patients’ motivation to get engaged in those behaviours and to put them into practice in the long run varies greatly between patients. The Transtheoretical Model of Behavioural Change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983, 1992) describes the motivation to change as a process with distinct stages and constitutes the theoretical basis of the study.
Aims
The aim of the project is to examine possibilities to enhance the motivation for three different health behaviours (physical activity, healthy diet, relaxation exercises). This includes the assessment of the extent of motivation as well as to identify predictors of the motivational stages. Moreover, the motivational effects of the new patient education “Aktiv Gesundheit fördern” (VDR, 2000) are evaluated in comparison to standard health education as offered by the hospitals. Additionally, the generalisation of effects for different indications (coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic low back pain) and different settings (hospitals) are investigated.
Methods
The study follows a multi-centre, randomised controlled design, aiming at a total sample of 1215 patients in three rehabilitation hospitals. The longitudinal design comprises data collection at four points of measurement (beginning and end of rehabilitation, follow-ups after 3 and 12 months).
Key words:
health behaviour
health education
evaluation
motivation
inpatient rehabilitation
transtheoretical model
Projekt period: from 03.2002 to 12.2004
Funding institution:
Bund ( DLR - Projektträger des BMBF ) ,Granting date: 11.03.2002